New Delhi: Passenger train services between India and Bangladesh will resume from May 29, an official order said.
The train services between Kolkata and cities in Bangladesh were suspended in March 2020 as a precautionary measure against the spread of COVID-19.
The Railway Board has issued orders to resume Kolkata-Dhaka Maitree Express from Dhaka by Bangladesh Railway rake and Kolkata-Khulna Bandhan Express from Kolkata by Indian Railways rake on May 29, 2022.
The services of NJP-Dhaka Mitali Express will be started on June 1 following the scheduled virtual flagging off of Mitali Express by the railway ministers of India and Bangladesh from Rail Bhawan.
The railway minister of Bangladesh is expected to be in India during that time.
Meanwhile, the Mitali Express operating on the Dhaka–New Jalpaiguri route was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bangladeshi counterpart Sheikh Hasina On March 26, 2021.
However, the service remained suspended since its launch due to the outbreak of the delta variant in India and Bangladesh.
According to the officials, the Bangladesh Railway train runs the Maitree Express service while an Indian Railways train runs the Bandhan Express service.
A senior railway official from the west zone said that the Mitali Express service would be run by an Indian Railways train.
The Maitree Express was launched in 2008 while the Bandhan Express was launched in 2017.
India is connected with Bangladesh through four border links -- Petrapole-Benapole, Singhabad-Rohanpur, Gede-Darshana and Radhikapur-Birol besides having one trans-border passenger train service, the Maitree Express. The Maitree Express connects Kolkata with Dhaka and Khulna.
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