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Train Service Dhaka signs supplementary deal with Delhi

Staff Correspondent
Bangladesh and Indian officials signed a supplementary deal in Dhaka yesterday for resumption of passenger train service between Dhaka and Kolkata from Pahela Baishakh, 43 years after the service was snapped.
Communications Secretary Dr Mahbubur Rahman and Indian High Commissioner Pinak Ranjan Chakravarty signed the deal on behalf of their respective governments -at the communications ministry in the afternoon.
The deal allows running of passenger trains between Cantonment Station in Dhaka and Chitpur Station in Kolkata through the Darshana border for a period of three years, after which the deal has to be renewed if both sides want to continue with the service.
The contract gives them power to scrap it in three months' notice, officials said.
Terming the occasion “historic," the communications secretary and the Indian high commissioner hoped the cross-border “Moitree Express" service would not only improve the communications between Bangladesh and India but also make it possible to establish connectivity among other countries in the region.
The sale of tickets started at KamaJapur Railway Station yesterday amid huge rush of enthusiastic people following the deal. In Bangladesh, the tickets can only be bought from there from 9:00am to 5:00pm every day.
The travellers will have to show their passports and visas while buying tickets.
Tk 1,400 is fixed for each air-conditioned sleeping berth. Tk 840 for AC chair and Tk 560 for non-AC chair, for the 538km journey --418km in Bangladesh and 120km in Indian territory.
1 The travellers will have to payTk 300 as travel tax
The fare will be half for children under five.
The Indian High Commission’s visa office will be kept open tomorrow for facilitating individuals wishing to travel on the inaugural run of “Moitree Express.”
Visa applications may be deposited at Indian Visa Application Centre from 8 00am to 10:00am and passports can be collected between 12:00pm to 2:00pm the same day.
The train service that used to link Dhaka, the then capital of East Pakistan, with Kolkata, was snapped after the 1965 war between India and Pakistan.
In 2001. the governments of the two countries signed a five-year deal to resume direct train service but it was not implemented. As a result, a supplementary deal was required.
Initially, two trains will run on Saturdays and Sundays ever” week. The starting time from Dhaka is 8:30am while from Chitpur, it is 7:10am local time.
The trains from Bangladesh will have the capacity' of carrying 418 passengers while those from India have 366 seats.
Darshana in Chuadanga district will be the immigration checkpoint for the passengers from India, while the outbound passengers will go through the checking in Dhaka.
The journey would take eight hours while customs and immigration formalities at Darshana in Bangladesh and Gede in West Bengal would take five hours more.
The first train from Dhaka on Pahela Baishakh will reach Kolkata at 9:00pm while the one from Kolkata will arrive in Dhaka at 8:30pm.
Communications Adviser Maj Gen (retd) Ghulam Quader and officials of Bangladesh Railway and communications ministry will see the first train off at Cantonment Station.
‘ It s a historic moment for us. Through the agreement, the rail communications have been restored," Communications Secretary Dr Mahbubur Rahman said after signing the agreement.
He hoped that the resumption of the service will help develop cooperation in all other areas of bilateral interest and more opportunities will open up in various sectors.
Terming the resumption as “beginning of a new chapter in connectivity in the region," Indian High Commissioner Pinak Ranjan said that It is not possible to achieve the goals on trade and commerce and people-to-people connectivity without the connectivity among Saarc countries.