‘Trains to India to start operations soon’

Maitree, Bondhon and Mitali expresses on Bangladesh-India route will start operations as soon as tourist visas of both the countries resume.

The matter was ascertained during a courtesy call of Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Vikram Kumar Doraiswami on Railway Minister Md Nurul Islam Sujan MP at his office, reads a press release.

They hoped that the trains will be launched very soon.

During the meeting, issues related to railways between Bangladesh and India were discussed.

Later, the overall status of the ongoing projects in the railway sector of Bangladesh financed by Indian loans was discussed in detail.

Both sides expressed dissatisfaction over the slow progress of the Indian funded Akhaura-Agartala project. The railway minister told the Indian high commissioner that he will inspect the project next month and decide what to do next.

The meeting discussed about Indian-funded Khulna-Mongla project, Bogra-Sirajganj new railway line, construction of coach factory in Syedpur, Dhaka-Tongi 3rd, 4th and Tongi-Joydebpur double line construction project, and Kulaura-Shahbajpur project. Also discussed were the future work of Indian funded projects to build Sirajganj ICD, and construction of a new ICD at Ishwardi.

The railway minister requested the Indian high commissioner to provide the unused Indian locomotives as donations to Bangladesh.

He also expressed interest in importing 54 tourist coaches from India including broad gauge coaches, and flat wagons. The Indian High Commissioner said he would discuss the matter with the concerned department.

The meeting was attended by Director General of Bangladesh Railway Dhirendra Nath Mazumder, Additional Secretary to the Ministry of Railways Md Habibur Rahman, Additional Director General (Rolling Stock) Monjur-ul-Alam Chowdhury, and Additional Director General Sardar Shahadat Hossain.