Mitali Express flagged off on Dhaka-Jalpaiguri route
Inauguration event of the third Indo-Bangla passenger train was attended by the railway ministers of both countries
The operations of Mitali Express – the third passenger train service between Bangladesh and India – started on Wednesday morning.
The flagging off ceremony was held at the Indian Railways Headquarters in New Delhi.
Railway Minister Nurul Islam Sujan and his Indian counterpart Ashwini Vaishnav were the chief guests at the event.
The train will run, from New Jalpaiguri in India to Dhaka Cantonment Station in Bangladesh, on the Haldibari (India) - Chilahati (Bangladesh) route.
The operating time is expected to be 9 hours 55 minutes.
The other two Indo-Bangladesh passenger trains -- Maitree Express and Bandhan Express -- whose operations were disrupted due to Covid-19 restrictions, resumed their services on 29 May.
Maitree Express, which began service in 2008, is the first train to run between the two countries since the British partitioned India in 1947.
Meanwhile, Bandhan Express began service later that year.
Fares, schedules of Mitali Express
According to an earlier press release issued by the Bangladesh Railway (BR), Mitali Express will run from Dhaka's Cantonment on Mondays and Thursdays.
Meanwhile, the train will operate from New Jalpaiguri (NJP) on Sundays and Wednesdays and customs as well as immigration facilities will be provided at the stations in NJP, Dhaka Cantonment and Chilahati.
It will leave Dhaka at 9:50pm on Mondays and Thursdays and will reach NJP at 7:15am on Tuesdays and Fridays.
The train will then leave NJP at 11:45am on Sundays and Wednesdays and reach Dhaka at 10:30pm on the same days.
BR will sell tickets in three categories and each ticket of berth would be $44 and 15% VAT and Tk500 travel tax would be added to the ticket price.
With all that included the one-way travel on berth will cost Tk4,905.
Meanwhile, each cabin seat would be $33, meaning total cost of a ticket would be Tk3,805, while a chair seat would be $22, meaning the ticket would be Tk2,705.
However, tickets for children aged below five would be 50% of the regular cost.
Passenger train services between Bangladesh and India were suspended in March 2020 following the onset of the coronavirus pandemic.
Before the suspension, two trains operated between the countries - Maitree Express on the Dhaka-Kolkata route and Bandhan Express on the Khulna-Kolkata route.
