The Indian Railway will conduct a trial run between Haldibari of Cooch Behar and Chilahati in the Nilfamari district of Bangladesh on Wednesday to check out the tracks which have been laid across the international border to reopen the route to the neighbouring country from Bengal.

“The work to connect Haldibari with Chilahati through railway tracks is almost complete. On October 7, a trial run would be conducted. We hope all ancillary works on our part will be finished by this month,” said S. Chanda, the chief public relation officer of the Northeast Frontier Railway.

According to sources, the total distance between the two stations is around 8km. On Wednesday, a railway engine will move from Haldibari to Chilahati and return.

“It is a common practice to conduct such trial runs once new tracks are laid or damaged stretches are repaired. As it is an international route, we are making all necessary arrangements,” said an official of the NFR.

As of now, there are four existing rail routes which connect Bengal with Bangladesh. These are Gede to Darshana, Petrapole to Benapole, Singhabad to Rohanpur and Radhikapur to Birol.

A senior NFR official said trains used to move between Sealdah and Jalpaiguri through the Haldibari-Chilahati route till 1965. Movement of trains halted during the India-Pakistan war.

In 2011, during bilateral talks between India and Bangladesh, it was decided to restore the train link between the two countries.

Accordingly, work started on both sides and tracks were laid from Haldibari and Chilahati to the border to resume the connectivity.

“Once this route becomes operational, it would have a huge impact on the economy of north Bengal and would boost bilateral trade. Initially, it has been decided that goods trains will run but we want passenger trains, too,” said Pradip Chakraborty, a retired railway employee.

He mentioned that if some of the Calcutta-bound trains from north Bengal and Northeast were routed through the Haldibari-Chilahati route, it would reduce the travel time by around two-and-half hours.

Samrat Sanyal, the general secretary of Himalayan Hospitality & Tourism Development Network (HHTDN), said commencement of passenger train services to Bangladesh would also boost the tourism sector.

“There are two other rail routes to Bangladesh in north Bengal (Radhikapur in North Dinajpur and Singabad in Malda) but only goods trains use these sections. If passenger trains are introduced on the Haldibari-Chilahati route, it would benefit the tourism sector of both the countries,” he said.