& çâÌæÚUæð´ ·¤è ¥ôÚU Îð¹Ùæ ÁæÚUè ÚU¹ð´ ¥ÍæüÌ ¥ÂÙð ÜÿØ ÂÚU ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´Ð ãæÚU Ù ×æÙð´, €UØô´ç·¤ ·¤æ× ·¤ÚUÙð âð ¥æÂ·¤ô ©gðàØ ·¤è Âýæç# ãôÌè ãñ ¥õÚU ÁèßÙ ·¤æ ¹æÜèÂÙ ÎêÚU ãôÌæ ãñÐ ÖÜð ãè ÁèßÙ ×ð´ ç·¤ÌÙè Öè ·¤çÆÙæ§ü €UØô´ Ù ¥æ°, çÁ™ææâæ ¥õÚU ©ˆâæã ÕÙæ° ÚU¹ð´Ð ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´, ÜÿØ ã×ðàææ ¥æÂ·Ô¤ Âæâ ãôÌð ãñ´ çÁ‹ãð´ ÂæÙð ·Ô¤ çÜ° ÂýØæâ ¥æÂ ·¤Öè Öè àæéM¤ ·¤ÚU â·¤Ìð ãñ´Ð

Dhaka-Kolkata train shuttles almost empty

Inconvenient timing and lengthy customs check blamed

Durdana Ghias
The Dhaka-Kolkata train service is witnessing great disappointment as the number of passengers is going down steadily due to unwise timing and delay in checking papers at the customs and immigration on both sides of the border.
Sources at the Bangladesh Railway said that the number of people travelling by the Maitree Express is very low for the last few months.
In the last three months, on average only 133 passengers went to Kolkata from Dhaka in a trip while on the return trip there were a little more thair! 007 ’.' 1
"One reason is the inconvenient timing of the train. The service is available only on Saturday and Sunday of the week,” said an official at the Kamalapu r Railway Station.
“When one goes to Kolkata on Saturday usually he does not return on that very day or on Sunday. He may need 2-3-days to complete his task there. But then he has to wait for seven days to get the next train. This discourages the passengers and often half of the 326 seats go vacant," he said.
According to the sources at the station the train had only 77 passengers yesterday and 70 on the day before. In the month of August the highest number of passengers was 147 and the lowest was 62 in a trip. In July, the highest number was 151 and the lowest 86 at one trip.
Another reason why passengers feel discouraged is the hours wasted at tire customs.
"I go by bus because it takes less time and nowadays buses are lot more comfortable. Although train journey is fun and safer I will go by train only when I wall not have to wait for hours at the borders,” said Bibek, a singer who often visits Kolkata.
Many passengers think of going by train but change their minds because-of hassles at the borders.
"I always thought about going to Kolkata by train because it is more comfortable than bus. I have heard that the authorities are trying to shorten the time of travel by reducing time at the customs. After that I wall go by train,” said Tareq Ali, another frequent traveller to Kolkata.
Sources at Bangladesh Railway said that it takes around 4:30 hours to check papers at the borders.
“The customs and immigration takes around four and half hours at the borders. So once a person travels by train he does not want to go for the second
time. This is a prime reason why we are losing passengers," said an official of Bangladesh Railway.
He said a three-day meeting was held from August 31 to September 2 on the issue. The meeting decided to take urgent steps to reduce waiting hours at least by one hour on each side.
“We need assistance from our home ministry and NBR to curtail the hours. We have requested them for this and they have taken a positive decision in the inter-ministerial meeting,” said the official.
"But the Indian side will also have to reduce it by an hour. We hope they will request their home ministry’ and NBR forir” hesaid. ' ’
“We have heard that the authorities are holding meetings and have decided to reduce the travel time but we are yet to get an official letter about it,” said officials at Kamalapur Railway Station.
Asked if any advertisement is being planned to popularise the service they said they were unaware about any such move.
The train service has three types of seating arrangements normal at Tk 860, AC (chair) atTk 1,266 and AC (cabin) atTk 1,910. From Dhaka the train starts at 8:30 in the morning and reaches Kolkata at 9:30 at night.