Passenger train service with India to resume by 1 June

Three passenger trains between Bangladesh and India are set to resume services from 1 June after a two-year halt due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The trains — Maitree Express, Bandhan Express and New Jalpaiguri-Dhaka Mitali Express — will be made operational when Indian Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw visits Bangladesh next month, reports Times of India.

"There was a huge demand from passengers of both sides to resume the operation as there is complete normalcy," said an Indian railway official.

Before the disruption due to coronavirus, two trains operated between the neighbouring countries - Maitree Express on the Dhaka-Kolkata route and Bandhan Express on the Khulna-Kolkata route.

Launched in 2008, Maitree Express is the first train to operate between the countries since the partition of India by the British in 1947. Later in 2017, Bandhan Express was launched on the Khulna-Kolkata route.

A third passenger train, Mitali Express, to operate between Dhaka and West Bengal's New Jalpaiguri, was virtually inaugurated by the prime ministers of both countries in March 2021.

The launch marked 'Bangabandhu' Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's birth centenary and the golden jubilee of Bangladesh's Independence.