Kolkata: Railway ministers of both India and Bangladesh flagged off Mitali Express, a passenger train from New Jalpaiguri to Bangladesh on Wednesday.
According to Railway sources, Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw along with Bangladesh Railway Minister Md Nurul Islam Sujan from national capital inaugurated this bi-weekly fully air-conditioned train.
The railway sources also said that the Mitali express will start from New Jalpaiguri on Sundays and Wednesdays at 11:45 am and the services from Dhaka will commence from there at 9.15 pm Bangladesh Standard Time on Mondays and Thursdays.
“The fully air-conditioned train consists of four chair cars and four sleeper coaches. The train will cover a distance of 595 km between NJP and Dhaka with 69 km of track length being in India and the rest in Bangladesh,” said the Railway sources.
It can be noted that on May 29, after two years of ‘distress’ due to pandemic, on Sunday there came ‘good news’ for two countries after ‘Maitree’ and ‘Bandhan’ Express trains once again resumed between India and Bangladesh.
According to railway sources, the Maitree Express train service between Dhaka and Kolkata resumed from Dhaka Cantonment Railway station and Bandhan Express started from Kolkata station.
While Bandhan Express will run two days a week between Kolkata to Khulna, Maitree Express will run five days a week between Kolkata and Dhaka. Both the trains have air-conditioned chairs and executive class compartments.
