Bangladesh-India rail services to resume on May 29

Rail communication between Bangladesh and India is going to resume after 26 months. The international express train Maitree, on the Dhaka-Kolkata route, and Bandhan, on the Khulna-Kolkata route, will start operation on 29 May.

The Mitali Express, which was decided to launch earlier but halted due to the pandemic, will run From 1 June.

The Indian Railway Department on Wednesday sent a letter to Bangladesh Railway (BR) informing the resumption of three express trains as Prothom Alo reports.

Bangladesh railway suspended movement of all passenger trains on 24 March 2020 after the first infection of coronavirus was reported in the country. Earlier on 15 March, the rail communication between Bangladesh and India was halted. 

Railway sources said the Indian government stopped visa issuance on those routes which train passengers follow to commute. During a visit to Bangladesh on 28 April, Indian foreign minister S Jaishankar said, the train communication between the two countries would resume soon.

Following Jaishankar’s announcement, the Indian home ministry decided to issue visas for train passengers. The two sides also started communication to start to reopen rail operations.

The authorities are almost sure about the date and time of reopening train services between Bangladesh and India. However, before the official declaration, an inter-ministerial meeting comprising various ministries including foreign, home and health will be held on Sunday, said BR additional directorate-general (Operation) Sardar Sahadat Ali.

“The decision has been taken in principle to reopen train services from 29 May. But, we need to take some more preparations,” added he.