In a bid to attract more passengers, railway officials of Bangladesh and India have agreed in principle to operate a passenger train between Khulna and Kolkata.

This would be the second train link between the two neighbours after the Maitree Express on Dhaka-Kolkata route.

The decision was made at an inter-governmental railway meeting held in Dhaka on January 10-12.

With the launch of this new service, passengers would reach Kolkata from Khulna in about four hours, said Bangladesh Railway (BR) sources.

According to immigration officials, about 1,400 people cross into India through the Benapole-Haridaspur immigration point everyday.

Nearly the same number of passengers enter Bangladesh from India. All of them travel by bus. The railway officials are hopeful the new train will attract them.

"At the operational level, we have no problem with running a passenger train between Khulna and Kolkata," AbuTaher, director general of BR, told The Daily Star.

The two governments are expected to reach a final decision in this regard within a couple of months, he added.

Upon receiving the approval, the railway authorities will fix the train fare and service frequency. The new train would benefit the passengers from the south-western and south-central districts including Jessore, Narail, Khulna, Satkhira, Bagerhat, Barisal, Patuakhali, Pirojpur and Barguna.

Railway officials said the journey from Khulna to Benapole takes less than two hours. The Bongaon station in India is only eight kilometres from Benapole. From there, Kolkata is only 79 km.

Experts however have pointed out that the proposed train service would be popular only if the authorities expedite the immigration and customs formalities on the border.

Launched on April 14 in 2008, the Maitree Express on Dhaka-Kolkata route could not gain popularity due to tedious customs and immigration formalities on the border -- Darsana in Bangladesh and Gede in India.

Its passengers are made to wait for about five hours for immigration and customs clearance. The total 538-km journey — 418km in Bangladesh and 120km in India -- takes about 11 hours.

The authorities later reduced the capacity of the train to 234 from 400 due to dwindling demands from the passengers. But still the train, running twice a week, could only carry 103 passengers per trip on an average.

On November 20 last year, prime minister's Economic Affairs Adviser Dr Mashiur Rahman chaired a meeting on enhancing the subregional cooperation. It discussed extension of the existing Khulna-Benapole route up to Kolkata via Bongaon.

Accordingly in December, the BR proposed that the Indian authorities open the service for passengers of both the countries.