Bangladesh
Maitree Express Maitree Express starts operation after two years
Dhaka, May 29, 2022: The Dhaka-Kolkata train service has been suspended for more than two years due to the Corona epidemic.
Finally, the train started running again from Sunday (May 29). On the same day, the Maitri Express with 165 passengers left Dhaka Cantonment Railway Station for Kolkata. The train started its journey at 8:15 in the morning. It was inaugurated by Dhirendra Nath Majumder, Director General of Railways.
The train has 456 seats. And 160 tickets have been sold. Of these, 18 are foreign (Indian) passengers. Another is an Indonesian citizen.
The Director General of Bangladesh Railway said that from now on the train will run five days a week. He said that after the outbreak of corona infection in the country, passenger transport on Maitri and Bondhan Express was stopped from March 15, 2020. The Mitali Express was inaugurated a year later. Later, before Eid-ul-Fitr, air and road travel was fully introduced but rail communication was suspended.
The Director General of Railways said that the number of passengers of Maitri Express on the first day was less than half. However, the passengers are happy to be able to go to India by train.
Dhaka Cantonment Railway Station Manager Liton Chandra Dey said the train started its journey at 8.15 am after completing the immigration process.
It will reach Kolkata station at 4 pm. On Monday (May 30), passengers from Kolkata will return to Dhaka at 4 pm. He said there are passengers in all the seats of the train during puja, Eid holidays and winter. At other times, passengers go to an average of 300 seats. Now the next time the train is started. So the passengers are a bit less. It will gradually increase.
