Bongaon, Dec. 5: Mamata Banerjee today said she would speak to Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to reduce delays on the Maitree Express, apparently caused by lengthy customs and immigration checks.

“I have heard that she (Hasina) will be visiting India from December 19. I will speak to her about the delay at the Gede-Darshana border. Passengers have to wait a long time. I will talk to her about how to ease the process and reduce the delay,” the railway minister told a gathering while flagging off two ladies’ special locals to Sealdah from this town in Bengal’s North 24-Parganas. She also laid the foundation for a route that will run to Bagda, which falls in the same district.

Railway officials say passengers on the Maitree Express, which runs between Calcutta and Dhaka, have to wait a total of four hours at Gede and Darshana. “Passengers have to wait longer at Darshana in Bangladesh,” an official said.

Mamata expressed hope that Hasina would take steps to reduce the delay. “We want improvement in relations. I want to create an Indo-Bangla trade route through (the nearby) Petrapole, so job opportunities can be created for the people of Bongaon.”

On the Bagda route, Mamata said, the tracks would be laid in two phases. She promised two more lines in North 24-Parganas.

More goodies were unwrapped for the town: trains with 12 coaches, against nine now, will be running soon between Sealdah and Bongaon; an outdoor stadium will be built at a cost of Rs 17 crore; a diagnostic centre will come up.

The minister also visited nearby Thakurnagar, home to the influential Motua sect and its head Binapani Thakurani, known as Boroma. She said she would consider a proposal for an agriculture and technology university at Thakurnagar for which local people were willing to give land.

Addressing a gathering at the nearby Motua Mahasangha temple, Mamata, who was given the sect’s life membership during the trip, said the Thakurnagar station building would be remodelled to look like the shrine.