Mitali on its maiden run

Mitali Express, the third passenger train between Bangladesh and India, has started operations yesterday, after railways ministers of the two countries flagged it off virtually.

The train reached Chilahati rail station in Bangladesh's Nilphamari at 2:10pm, with 12 passengers on board, after crossing Chilahati-Haldibari border.

A passenger train used the Chilahati-Haldibari interchange for the first time since 1965. The route was revived in December 2020 for freight trains.

After a 30-minute break at Chilahati, the Indian diesel-run locomotive was replaced with a Bangladeshi one, which started for Dhaka at 2:45pm.

It reached Dhaka Cantonment Railway Station at 10:55pm, with the 12 passengers, railway sources said. Bangladesh Railway officials and staffers welcomed the passengers with flowers at the station, they said. Officu

BM Shahidul Islam and Md Shahjahan Ali operated the train inside Bangladesh, which was scheduled to reach Dhaka cantonment station at 10:30pm.

It will leave cantonment station at 9:50pm on Thursday and is scheduled to reach New Jalpaiguri station in India at 7:15am on Friday.

Earlier in the day, Rail Minister Nurul Islam Sujan, who is now in India, and Indian Rail Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw jointly flagged off the train virtually from the Rail Bhavan in New Delhi at 10:10am.

The programme was telecast live online.

The fully air-conditioned direct train with 10 coaches started from New Jalpaiguri around 11:45am.

Speaking at the programme, Rail Minister Sujan asked the authorities concerned to increase the frequency of the train to five days per week, instead of two, as the route is likely to become popular.

He sought India's assistance in the development of Bangladesh's railway infrastructure, particularly in the conversion of the rail tracks into broad gauze.

The Indian rail minister assured Bangladesh of all cooperation in toning up the latter's rail infrastructure and said, "India will never go back on its word in this endeavour."

He described the Mitali Express as "yet another milestone" in enhancing the friendship between the two countries.

The Mitali was inaugurated by the prime ministers of both countries on March 26 last year. But its operations, however, did not start due to the pandemic.

At minister-level talks afterwards, Sujan requested his Indian counterpart to ease the billing of projects, being implemented with Indian Line of Credits, and also requested them to supply 20 locomotives.

Earlier, India supplied 10 locomotives as a grant in early 2020, but it's not clear whether the minister sought the new locomotives as a grant or on rent.

(Our New Delhi and Nilphamari Correspondents contributed the report.)