Senior officials of Bangladesh & India have said that they are expected the Dhaka-Kolkata direct train service to be launched on April 14, coinciding with the Bengali New Year “Pahela Baishakh”.

A senior official of India said, “We are aiming to start the Dhaka-Kolkata passenger train service from Pahela Baishakh… You see, our Rail Minister has already announced the date in the parliament”.

Chakravarty expressed hope that infrastructural works that are yet to be completed would be finished within a short time to enable the “Moitree Express” passenger train service to run once in a week between Dhaka & the West Bengal capital.

Bangladeshi senior officials said the date would be announced officially after a supplementary deal between the Railway officials of the two countries expected to be signed during a three-day bilateral talk in Dhaka beginning on April 1.

A senior official of Bangladeshsaid, “We have already done two trial runs & found no problems. Let’s start the service; we can address problems if they come up”.

Officials in Dhaka earlier said they now awaited India’s nod to resume Dhaka-Kolkata train service on Bengali New Year ‘Pahela Baishakh’ after the advisory council of the interim government last month accepted an Indian proposal for constructing box-type fencing in zero lines of frontier.