With Bangladesh still considering India's request for building a protective strucutre to sanitise the rail line between the zero point and Gede railway station on the Indian side, the date of commencement of the train remains undecided.

At the two-day Indo-Bangla home secretary level talks that ended here yesterday, Indian Home Secretary Madhukar Gupta reminded his Bangladesh counterpart Abdul Karim of New Delhi's demand.

While India has already made the request for building such a protective structure, Bangladesh maintained that the matter was under consideration and Dhaka would "revert soon".

During the talks, Gupta highlighted the desire of the people of both the countries for an early commencement of the passenger train service.

To questions at a joint press conference after the minutes of the meeting were signed, both Gupta and Karim evaded any specific date as to when the "Moitree Express" would commence. "Let us see," they said when asked if it could start in another two months.

Home ministry sources said India wants to ensure foolproof security arrangments before the date of starting of the service was agreed upon keeping in mind the vulnerability of cross-border train services.