Following the discontinuation of railway services between India and Bangladesh in 2024 due to security concerns, efforts to restart train services from Kolkata to Dhaka and Khulna and New Jalpaiguri to Dhaka are now taking shape, as the issue is coming up for discussion during the two-day meeting of the Inter-Governmental Railway Meeting (IGRM).
This meeting is held every year, and the last meeting took place in New Delhi last year.
The IGRM between India and Bangladesh is an annual bilateral forum where railway authorities and ministry representatives from both countries meet to discuss and decide on cross-border train operations, rail infrastructure projects, and freight transit. The Mitali Express is a bi-weekly international express train connecting New Jalpaiguri in West Bengal, India, and Dhaka Cantonment in Bangladesh. With the deteriorating law and order situation in Bangladesh, Indian Railways suspended all three inter-country passenger trains for an indefinite period and the rake returned only in December through the Chilahati-Haldibari border in Cooch Behar District of West Bengal this morning amid heightened security measures
The train had originally left New Jalpaiguri for Dhaka on July 17 but had been unable to return due to political unrest in Bangladesh. It was the last international train service to be inaugurated between the two countries, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and former Prime Minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina flagging off the services jointly in 2021. The train covers the distance of nearly 600 km in around 11 hours and crosses into Bangladesh via the Haldibari-Chilahati border. The Mitali Express rake had been held up in Bangladesh for over five months in 2024 during the unrest in the country.
