A goods train crossed the Indo-Bangla border to reach Haldibari station in Cooch Behar amid loud cheers on Thursday, as this rail route between India and Bangladesh reopened after a gap of 55 years.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bangladesh counterpart Sheikh Hasina in a virtual bilateral summit inaugurated the service that had been a longstanding demand of north Bengal.
The route — only for goods trains for now — was opened a day after both countries celebrated Vijay Diwas to mark the victory of Indian forces over Pakistan troops during the Bangladesh liberation war of 1971.
While Modi stressed strengthening bilateral relations with Bangladesh, Hasina underscored the need to work together to help the economies of both nations.
“I believe both the countries further integrate our economies by taking advantage of the available synergies. Our ongoing connectivity initiatives are working as catalysts in this regard. A prime example is resumption of the Chilahati-Haldibari rail route which we will inaugurate today (Thursday),” Hasina said at the virtual summit.
Sources in Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) — the route falls under this railway zone — said this was the fifth rail route to connect India with Bangladesh.
The existing four, all of which connect various stations of Bengal, are Petrapole-Benapole, Gede-Darshana, Singabad-Rohanpur and Radhikapur-Birol. Only the Calcutta-Dhaka Maitree Express on Gede-Darshana ferries passengers, the rest are all goods trains on these routes.
Since morning, hundreds of Haldibari residents came to the station to see the historic event.
At 11am, as the two Prime Ministers inaugurated the route, a goods train with 30 empty wagons and two guard rooms departed from Chilahati to head for Haldibari. There were two each loco pilots, assistant loco pilots and guards on board the train. It reached the zero point where officials of the Border Security Force (BSF) and Customs carried out the checking.
The train then chugged into Haldibari station where people rejoiced. Many enthusiastically clicked pictures of the decorated loco while many others clapped and welcomed the train.
Officials of NFR welcomed the Bangladesh Railway staff. After some time, the train returned to Chilahati.
“It is a dream come true. Much earlier, trains used to run between Calcutta and Haldibari through this route but the service came to a halt during the India-Pakistan war of
1965. We have waited for long for the train route to reopen. It finally happened,” said Azizul Haque Sarkar, a Haldibari resident.
Another resident, Rupa Chowdhury, said this route could save commuters time to reach Calcutta from north Bengal and the Northeast.
“Right now, we must travel over 600km to reach Calcutta by train. If passenger trains bound for Calcutta move through Bangladesh, we need to travel only 450km or so,” Rupa said.
In October this year, a news release issued by Bangladesh press information department had stated that its government was also mulling introduction of passenger train services between Dhaka and Siliguri.
Additional reporting by our Jalpaiguri correspondent
