AMN/ WEB DESK
In a significant boost to connectivity between India and Bangladesh, a goods train loaded with stone chips in 30 wagons arrived at Chilahati in Bangladesh from India on Sunday afternoon through the Haldibari-Chilahati route. The train was dispatched from the Damdim station of the Northeast Frontier railway late on Saturday night. This rail route has been revived 56 years after being discontinued during the India-Pakistan war of 1965.
The Haldibari-Chilahati rail line was inaugurated on 17 December last year during the virtual summit between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
Commodities such as stones and boulders, food grain, fresh fruits, chemical fertilizer, onion, chilies, garlic, ginger, fly ash, clay, limestone, wood and timber among others can be exported from India to Bangladesh through this rail route. All exportable commodities are permitted to be carried on this route from Bangladesh to India.
The Haldibari – Chilahati rail link is the 5th rail link between India and Bangladesh being made operational. Apart from this Petrapole-Benapole, Gede-Darshana, Singhabad-Rohanpur and Radhikapur-Birol routes are currently operational.
This rail link coming into operation will strengthen India-Bangladesh Rail Connectivity and bilateral trade. It will also enhance rail network accessibility to the main ports and dry ports to support the growth in regional trade and to encourage economic and social development of the region, said the High Commission of India in Dhaka.
The same route will be used for running the passenger trains also. Tourists from Bangladesh will be able to use this route to visit places like Darjeeling, Sikkim, Dooars apart from countries like Nepal, Bhutan etc., said Anita Barik, the Railway Advisor at High Commission of India in Bangladesh.