The Indian Railways all set to restore the Kolkata-Dhaka Maitreyee and Kolkata-Khulna Bandhan Passenger train service next week after a gap of nearly two years. This is part of a series of steps being taken to increase co-operation between the two neighbouring countries.
The India-Bangladesh commercial train operation has started via the Petrapole-Benapole border and other rail checkpoints. “We are planning to start the passenger operations from Kolkata station to March 26. Maitree and Bandhan express start their journey for Dhaka and Khulna, as per their old schedule,” said a railways official.
Maitree express is the first modern day, fully air conditioned international express train service connecting Dhaka to Kolkata. Previously, train services between the two countries existed before the partition of India by the British and the Maitree Express re-established this connection between Dhaka and Kolkata in 2008 after being closed for 43 years.
In 2017, a second train service, the Bandhan Express, was inaugurated connecting Kolkata with the Bangladeshi city of Khulna, recreating the previous Barisal Express train route.
The Maitree Express runs five days a week. The train travels around 400 kilometres to reach Dhaka from Kolkata. Earlier, there were two stops for immigration checks in Kolkata and Dhaka. One in Gede on the Indian side and the other in Dorshona on the Bangladeshi side.
Since November 2017, immigration and customs have been completed at Dhaka and Kolkata. This has reduced travel time by two and half hours. It takes around 8 hours 50 minutes to cover the entire stretch.
On other side, Bandhan express frequency was increased in pre-covid times. Sources said that now the train will run twice in a week, that is Sunday and Thursday. Railway officials have also said they are planning to start the operations from NJP to Dhaka Mitali express.
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