Railway officials said the train was flagged off from Dhaka Cantonment Station at 7:00am. It reached Darshana station on the southwestern district of Chuadanga at about 12:45pm before it whistled past the border into India.

The train, styled as Moitree Express, left the station at about 1:57pm after the delegation, led by Additional Secretary for Communications ATKM Ismail, had a lunch break there.

A two-day meeting between Bangladesh and India begins today in the West Bengal capital for finalising the formalities of commencing regular Dhaka-Kolkata-Dhaka train service, said Shafiqul Alam Khan, director, Public Relations, Bangladesh Railway.

Fixation of the date, frequency of the service, Indian- proposed cage-fencing and customs immigration are among the issues that will be discussed between the two countries.

AE Ahmed, Additional Secretary of the Indian Home Ministry, will lead the host side at the talks.

Earlier on July 8, a cross-border trial train carrying a 31-member Indian official delegation arrived in Bangladesh to introduce the Dhaka-Kolkata rail communications.