Jalpaiguri: A train chugged along a 2.5km-long re-laid tracks in Cooch Behar's Haldibari, near the Bangladesh border, for the first time in 53 years.
The trial run by an engine with six coaches was part of a plan to revive railway services between India and Bangladesh.
The Northeast Frontier Railway is re-laying tracks for 3.5km from Haldibari to the zero point on the Bangladesh border to connect with Chilahati station on the other side.
Haldibari is around 30km from here.
"Till 1965, trains between Calcutta and north Bengal used to ply on the Haldibari-Chilahati route (a distance of 6km). Even the Darjeeling Mail would take this route. For the first time in 53 years, an engine moved along the route, close to the border," said Gouranga Sarkar, a senior resident of Haldibari.
Sarkar recollected that the fare from Haldibari to Calcutta those days was Rs 65.
NFR sources said Rs 31 crore had been sanctioned by the railways to relay the tracks till the zero point, where they will meet the tracks of Bangladesh.
"The tracks have already been laid again for a distance of 2.5km. On Wednesday, a diesel loco with six coaches was run on a trial basis. Work is in progress to finish the remaining tracks till the zero point. We have set a target of finishing the project by this year or the beginning of 2019," said a source in the NFR.
Before the Farakka Barrage was built, Darjeeling Mail to Sealdah used to run along the Chilahati-Nilphamari-Parbatipur-Santahar-Ishwardi-Hardinge Bridg-Bheramara-Darshana section and then enter India through the Gede-Ranaghat route.
"It was a shorter route for the Darjeeling Mail. If train movement to Bangladesh commences on the Haldibari-Chilahati route, we feel in due course, Darjeeling Mail and some other Calcutta-bound trains can take the same route. Also, trains bound for Bangladesh from north Bengal can boost the economy of the region," said Sitangshu Mallick, a Congress leader in Haldibari.
On Bangladesh side, sources said, the government there is improving the infrastructure at Chilahati station and relaying tracks near the border. Both the countries had decided last year to revive some old rail routes.
