Jalpaiguri (West Bengal): Revival of a defunct railway link between India and Bangladesh moved a step closer to reality with a successful trial run on the route on Thursday.
The Indo-Bangladesh international railway route from Jalpaiguri in North Bengal to Chilahati in Bangladesh via Haldibari is all set to kick-start again after a long gap of 55 years.
The railway line from Haldibari to Chilahati in Bangladesh has been defunct after rail links between India and then East Pakistan had snapped in 1965.
Though Bangladesh later attained independence, inter-border train services on this route remained suspended.
On October 8, a loco engine successfully ran on the route on a trial basis. JP Singh, Chief Engineer (Construction), North East Frontier Railway inaugurated and flagged off the trial run. The engine set off towards the zero point from the border outpost of Dangapara, and reached the India-Bangladesh border at around 11:45 am.
People from both sides of the border welcomed the locomotive with a warm applause.
According to sources, Bangladesh will also have a similar trial run on its side of the border within a few days.
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"I am quite happy with this initiative. People from both the countries want this rail route. Their dream is now going to come true. Though the work started in 2017, it later stopped for some time. Now if Bangladesh runs the train successfully, both the countries will give the fit certificate," JP Singh said.
Ever since the successful swapping of 162 adversely-held Indo-Bangladesh enclaves, both the countries were planning to revive the Haldibari-Chilahati rail route.
Apart from laying out 3.34 kilometres long railway line on its side, India also renovated the Haldibari station with modern infrastructure. Along the same lines, Chilahati railway station in Bangladesh has also been renovated with modern infrastructure and a new railway track has been installed on the 6.72-kilometre-long route. Later, both the lines from Haldibari and Chilahati were attached together.
Meanwhile, a railway spokesperson had earlier this week said that other works such as the construction of buildings and other ancillary things on the route would be completed by December.
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People on both sides of the border are eagerly looking forward to the resumption of services on the route.
Bangladesh and India have a total of eight railway interchange points, of which four are currently functioning - Petrapole (India)-Benapole (Bangladesh), Gede (India)-Darshana (Bangladesh), Singhabad (India)- Rohanpur (Bangladesh) and Radhikapur (India)-Birol (Bangladesh).
The Chilahati-Haldibari route, which will become the fifth such link, will also establish Bangladesh's railway connectivity with Bhutan through India.
