Bangladesh and India signed the final agreement for launching Dhaka-Kolkata train services on April 14 coinciding with
the Bengali new year Pahela Boishakh, officials in Dhaka said on Thursday.
The officials said Communications secretary Mahbubur Rahman and Indian High Commissioner in Dhaka Pinak Ranjan Chakravarty
penned the final agreement at the ministry to roll out the much-awaited trans-national train services.
The Cabinet or advisory council of the interim government in emergency-ruled Bangladesh approved the final draft of the
deal last week in a meeting with Chief Adviser Fakhruddin Ahmed in the chair.
Earlier on February 24 the Cabinet approved the Indian proposal for the construction of a box-type temporary fence on no
man's land between the two countries, clearing the way for the commissioning of direct passenger train service.
Railway officials of the two countries finalised the details of the service at a two-day bilateral meet last week for the
launching of the service.
The 'Moitree (friendship) Express' will operate weekly between the Cantonment Railway Station in Dhaka and Chitpur station
in Kolkata through the Darshana border whlle there will be a routine engine check-up at Darshana during the 13 to 14 hour
long journey over 538 km of which 418km stretches across Bangladesh and 120 km across India.
The final agreement came as home ministry officials said that Secretary Abdul Karim told reporters Tuesday, after a meeting
on security and immigration for the new rail service, that the government has completed all preparations for launching the
trains.
