Dhaka-Kolkata freight train from next month
Bangladesh and India are set to launch a container train service to facilitate faster and cheaper transport of goods between the two countries such that bilateral trade goes way beyond the existing $6 billion.
The container train, which will operate between Dhaka and Kolkata, will start its trial run from next month, according to a decision taken at an inter-governmental meeting on railway on September 13-15 in New Delhi.
“This will be a new service, so we need to see whether merchants use railway to carry container to and from India,” said a senior official of Bangladesh Railway yesterday.
The move comes after the Container Corporation of India and Container Company of Bangladesh Ltd signed a preliminary agreement over facilitating greater cooperation in freight operations between the two countries during Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's visit to New Delhi in April.
A full rake of empty containers will go to Dhaka through the only broad-gauge connection through Gede(India)-Darshana(Bangladesh) border gates in West Bengal.
Bangladesh will send the rake loaded with their export cargo, according to a report by Indian newspaper The Hindu Business Line.
Before the launch of the container train service on commercial basis, the required rules and procedures will be formulated, officials said.
The service may go on to have a major cost impact on the $6-billion bilateral trade, which is currently dominated by non-containerised road cargo -- mostly through the Benapole-Petrapole border in West Bengal, according to the Indian newspaper.
To add to the problem, India-Bangladesh road cargo is subjected to heavy rent-seeking and delay, especially in the 70-km congested stretch between Kolkata and Petrapole.
Loading and unloading of non-containerised road cargo at the border further makes the trade costly and unsafe.
Transporting goods by container is less risky for both businesses and authorities as the containers would remain locked on the way to the customs stations, said Mohammad Ehteshamul Hoque, first secretary of Customs International Affairs at the National Board of Revenue.
“Internationally, transporting goods through containers is rising, so we also encourage this,” he added.
Jahangir Alamin, former president of the Bangladesh Textiles Mills Association, said the introduction of container train will be beneficial for industries to import raw materials such as cotton from India.
At present, it takes 10 days on average to bring goods from India by road.
Alamin went on to suggest checking if the Inland Container Depot at Kamlapur has the capacity to handle the containers. “There are other infrastructural issues that also need to be addressed,” he added.
Apart from the initiative to introduce container train, both the countries also agreed to do immigration and customs formalities for passenger train Maitree Express at Dhaka Cantonment and Kolkata instead of Darshana in Bangladesh and Gede in India. This will start from November 3 this year, according to the minutes of the meeting.
Both the countries also agreed to launch full-fledged passenger service between Khulna and Kolkata via Benapole from November this year. The train's trial run was inaugurated in April by the prime ministers of the two countries.
The customs and immigration procedures for the passengers of the train service will be done at Kolkata terminal for India and at Benapole for Bangladesh, according to the minutes.
The second passenger service train may be named Bandhan Express and Sampreeti Express as a reflection of closer relationship between the two countries.
The inter-governmental meeting also talked about increasing the number of freight trains between Bangladesh and India.
It was agreed that Bangladesh would accept four freight trains daily at the interchange points; two of the trains may be food grains, according to participants at the meeting.
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