Bangladesh-India Train Services to Resume May 29

The train services between Bangladesh and India are scheduled to be resumed on May 29, two years after the services were suspended due to the outbreak of Covid-19, officials said.

The services of the Maitree Express on Dhaka-Kolkata route and the Bandhan Express on Khulna-Kolkata route are scheduled to be resumed on May 29 and the service of the Mitali Express on Dhaka-New Jalpaiguri route is scheduled to be started on June 1, reports media.

Officials of Bangladesh Railway said that they had taken necessary steps in these regards.

An inter-ministerial meeting would be held to fix other issues including health related safety measures for, they said.

The authorities suspended the train services — the Maitree Express on Dhaka-Kolkata route and the Bandhan Express on Khulna-Kolkata route — on March 15, 2020 after the outbreak of the virus in Bangladesh on March 8, 2020.

On March 26, 2021 the prime minister Sheikh Hasina and the Indian prime minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the Mitali Express but no train ran under the service due to devastating spread of delta variant in India and Bangladesh in the past year.

Bangladesh Railway additional director general (operation) Sardar Shahdat Ali told New Age that they had decided to resume services of Maitree Express and the Bandhan Express from May 29.

Service of the Mitali Express would be inaugurated on June 1, he said and added that till now these days were fixed.

‘We will call an inter-ministerial meeting soon to fix some issues like health ministry has some rules and regulations,’ he said.

Sardar Shahdat Ali said that they had taken all the preparations for running trains on these routes.