Dhaka, Delhi agree to sign train service deal next week
March 21st, 2008
Bangladesh and India are set to sign a supplementary deal next week on the commissioning of the Maitree Express, cross-border passenger train service between the two next-door neighbours, by Pahela Baishakh.
The Dhaka–Kolkata passenger train service will initially begin without a box-type temporary fence on no man’s land on the Bangladesh side as it is yet to complete its preparation for fencing, communications ministry officials told New Age on Wednesday.
The Bangladesh army chief, General Moeen U Ahmed, on his recent visit to India, said the cross-border train service may begin on Pahela Baishakh.
‘If everything goes well, the train will start running on Pahela Baishakh,’ Moeen told the newsmen after a visit to the Indian border station Gede on February 29. Pahela Baishakh falls on April 14 in both the countries this time.
‘As we have planned to move our customs and immigration point very near the international border, we need some more time to put up the fence,’ a high ministry official said.
Bangladesh will construct the fence similar to that of a tennis court and the design was in the final stages.
The ministry officials said the deal for the Maitree Express would be signed at a three-day inter-governmental railway officials’ meeting scheduled to begin on March 23 in Dhaka.
PN Verma, member (traffic) of the Indian railway ministry, will lead his country to the talks while the home team will be led by additional secretary of the Bangladesh communications ministry ATKM Ismail.
A high-level team, led by the Bangladesh home secretary, Abdul Karim, is scheduled to visit Darshana on March 21 to asses the preparation for immigration and security measures required at the immigration point on the Bangladesh side.
Bangladesh has initially set up the immigration centre in a rented warehouse at Darshana. The centre will later be shifted near the international border.
The cabinet on February 24 approved the Indian proposal for the construction of a box-type temporary fence on no man’s land between the two countries, clearing the way for the commissioning of direct passenger train service.
The proposal will be included in the Indo-Bangladesh agreement signed earlier, on the basis of which the train service will be in operation till mid-2010.
The commissioning of the train service was delayed as the two countries failed to narrow down their difference over ‘security cage’ on the railway.
As per the earlier agreement regarding the frequency of the service, two trains are supposed to run a week, one from Bangladesh and the other from India.
A train will leave Dhaka for Kolkata every Saturday and travel back to Dhaka on Sunday. Another train will leave Kolkata every Saturday and will go back on Sunday. The Maitree Express will have the capacity to carry 308 passengers at a time.
The Indo-Bangladesh passenger train will now run on the route between the cantonment station in Dhaka and Chitpur in Kolkata through the Darshana border.
Train fares will be between $8 and $20 depending on the class for the 536km journey — 416km in Bangladesh and 120km in India.
Dhaka and New Delhi signed the agreement on the resumption of direct train service in 2001. A series of meetings have taken place at different levels between the two sides since then.
Source: New Age, A Bangladeshi Daily.
