Prime Ministers of Bangladesh and India jointly Unveil Rail projects

DHAKA, Nov. 9 (NsNewsWire) — Prime Minister of India, H.E Shri Narendra Modi and Prime Minister of Bangladesh, H.E. Sheikh Hasina, today jointly inaugurated the International Rail Terminal at Chitpur, Kolkata through Video Conferencing. They also flagged off the Inaugural Service of the Kolkata to Khulna Bandhan Express. Hon’ble Chief Minister of West Bengal, Sushri Mamata Banerjee also joined the Video Conference from Kolkata.

The Prime Ministers announced the commencement of end-to-end Customs and Immigration Services for the Kolkata-Dhaka Maitree Express starting from 10 November 2017. This will reduce the travel time by close to three hours, the journey by train from Dhaka to Kolkata.

The Prime Ministers jointly inaugurated two Railway Bridges built under the Indian Line of Credit in Bangladesh. The one kilometer long Bhairab Rail Bridge over the Meghna river and the second railway bridge over the Titas river in Bangladesh have been completed at a cost of over USD 102 million. These bridges will ease congestion on the Dhaka to Chittagong main trunk rail route.

The starting of the Bandhan Express will fulfill a long standing demand from the people of Khulna in South Bangladesh for a direct train service to Kolkata. Bandhan Express will have all air-conditioned coaches and will run every Thursday from 16 November 2017.

The Maitree and Bandhan Express trains are symbolic of the friendship and trust between the two countries will facilitate people to people contacts between India and Bangladesh. It will greatly reduce travel time and inconvenience to passengers traveling by rail between India and Bangladesh.

Bangladesh is India’s longstanding development partner and India has extended soft loans worth USD 8 billion to Bangladesh through three recent Lines of Credit. The two Railway bridges inaugurated today are projects covered under the First LOC.

Indian High Commission Press Release