Officials of Bangladesh-India in talks to resume train services

Train services between India and Bangladesh have been suspended since July due to the political changes last year. Citizens of both countries have demanded that the rail services be resumed as the situation has now normalised.

In view of this, railway officials of both countries are holding a three-day meeting in Indian capital of New Delhi from Monday (January 20). The Indian Railways administration has said that the issue of inter-country train services will be given priority in the meeting.

A delegation led by Additional Secretary of the Ministry of Railways Ziaul Haque has joined the meeting on behalf of Bangladesh. The Railways said that there will be a meeting with India on five agendas. Among them, the issue of inter-country train movement will be given priority.

On July 17 last year, the ‘Mitali Express’ train reached the 'Dhaka Cantonment' station from 'New Jalpaiguri' in India. The train was supposed to leave Dhaka the next day, but it could not be done due to political unrest. Similarly, the ‘Maitree Express’ running on the Dhaka-Kolkata route and the ‘Bandhan Express’ running on the Khulna-Kolkata route were stopped. As a result, travelers from the two countries could not get any kind of rail service. Especially those from Bangladesh who go to India for medical treatment are in trouble. However, Indian Railways officials believe that the service will be resumed soon.

Although passenger train services have been suspended for a long time, freight trains are operating regularly between the two countries.