Two years after being paused due to the outbreak of Coronavirus, the passenger train services between India and Bangladesh finally resumed. Maitree Express and Bandhan express the two passenger trains have now resumed. An Eastern Railway official stated that both the train services are fully booked for the next few days which talks about the excitement of the people on bot both sides of the border.
The Maitree Express
The passenger train service that runs between Dhaka and Kolkata, Maitree Express, resumed on Sunday from Dhaka Cantonment Railway Station. Bangladesh Railway spokesperson said that the express left Dhaka with 165 passengers with an expected journey time of eight hours and will be back in Dhaka on Monday. The Director-General Of Bangladesh Railways, Dhirendra Nath Majumder stated that the train will run five days a week. He also said that the number of passengers expected was higher than the actual numbers because of the Covid-19 situation not completely being struck out. The 465 seat train on average carried about 300 passengers.
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Third Service To Begin Soon
The passenger train service that runs between Bangladesh’s southwestern Khulna and Kolkata, Bandhan Express too resumed after 2 years. It will run two days a week. Both the express have executive class compartments and air-conditioned chair cars. A new third service namely Mitali express will be launched on June 1 and will be a tourist train. The train will run between West Bengal’s Jalpaiguri and Dhakka helping Bangladeshi people to reach Dooars’ forests and Darjeeling’s hills.
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