The New Nation - Internet Edition

It is heartening to note that the passenger train service between Kolkata (Calcutta) in India and the capital of Bangladesh, Dhaka, has resumed after an interval of more than 40 years. The service was suspended in 1965 following that year's war between India and Pakistan, of which Bangladesh was then the eastern province. The train service between the two countries was stopped during the India-Pakistan war in 1965 when Bangladesh was the erstwhile East Pakistan. Bangladesh gained independence in 1971 but the two countries only agreed to resume the train link in 2001. However, owing to disagreements over security arrangements, the implementation of the rail link was delayed after the two countries signed the agreement. The 538-km journey will cover 418 km in Bangladesh and 120 km in India.

In the 1990s, direct buses began running between Dhaka and Calcutta for the first time. Earlier, on 8 July 2007, as a prelude to the Moitree Express, a test run was conducted from India to Bangladesh when a train carrying Indian government officials has crossed the border and arrived in Bangladesh's capital, Dhaka, but there were no paying passengers on board the train. The 500km (310 mile) journey marked the resumption of a direct passenger rail service between the two countries. The train had only symbolic importance.

The Kolkata-Dhaka Moitree (Friendship) Express was at long last flagged off on 14 April, 2008, Bengali New Year's Day resuming passenger train services between the two neighboring countries after 43 years. But the 360-seater Calcutta-Dhaka Friendship Express on its inaugural run was carrying barely 65 passengers, including journalists and politicians. The six-coach train is a bi-weekly service between Kolkata and Dhaka Cantonment. It leaves Kolkata on Saturdays and Sundays at 7.10 am reaching Dhaka at 10.30 pm. From Dhaka, it leaves at 8.30 am and reaches Kolkata at 9 pm. The Indian rake has a capacity of 368 passengers and the Bangladeshi one will have 418 passengers.

Mahbubur Rehman, a senior official of the Bangladesh Communication Ministry and Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh P. R. Chakravarty had on April 09 signed the supplementary deal on the commissioning of the cross-border passenger train. The train, which started on Poila Boishakh (Bengali New Year's Day), will run every weekend between Chitpur Station in Kolkata and Cantonment Station in Dhaka through the Darshana border. It's an eight-hour journey that starts on Poila Boishakh, redefining the friendship of the two countries. "But the verification of passport, visa and other official paper works will take six hours more," said. "We have requested the Indian High Commission to keep the verification procedure short yet fool proof so that passengers will not feel harassed," he added. Rehman said by keeping in mind "terrorist" activities that always come between India-Bangladesh friendship, Bangladesh is stressing most on security. The train will not stop within 30 km of the border even if the chain is pulled.

Dr.Abdul Ruff Colachal

Analyst, Researcher & Commentator

Delhi