Bangladesh, India to restore train link

BANGLADESH: Rail passenger services between Bangladesh and India will resume next week for the first time in more than four decades following a deal signed on Thursday, officials said.

The Moitree (Friendship) Express will on Monday - the first day of the Bengali New Year - be the first passenger train to leave Dhaka for India since 1965, Bangladesh's communication secretary Muhammad Mahbubur Rahman said.

At the same time India's Dhaka-bound Moitree Express will leave Kolkata, capital of the eastern Indian state of West Bengal.

"It's a historic day. We're recreating history," India's High Commissioner to Bangladesh Pinak Ranjan Chakravarti said after signing the agreement with Rahman in Dhaka.

"It's the beginning of a new chapter in connectivity between the two countries and the region. It will facilitate greater economic linkages between the two nations," he added.

The Bangladesh Moitree Express will depart Dhaka's Cantonment Station, while India's Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav will flag off the Indian train from Kolkata's Chitpur station.

Passenger services between the two countries were suspended after the 1965 war between India and Pakistan. Bangladesh was then part of Pakistan and became independent in 1971 with Indian military help.

The area of Bengal was split along religious lines in 1947 when the subcontinent gained independence from British colonial rule. Both West Bengal and Bangladesh speak Bengali.

While passenger services have been suspended since 1965, cargo links continued and in the 1990s a passenger bus service was launched between Dhaka and Kolkata. Dhaka, Friday, AFP