Almost 52 years after the end of the Indo-Pak war,
rail services between Khulna in Bangladesh and Kolkata in,
West Bengal India have now resumed.
The Bandhan Express will now travel between Kolkata and Khulna every Thursday.
The air-conditioned weekly passenger train covers a distance of 172km. Of that,
77km is in India and 95km in Bangladesh.
The new service was flagged off by the Prime Minister of India,
Narendra Modi,
Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina,
and the Chief Minister of West Bengal, Mamata Banarjee,
through video conferencing.
Image Copyright: Outlook India
The train started ferrying passengers from November 16 and according to the schedule,
it should leave Kolkata at 7:00am (Indian time) and reach Khulna within only four and a half hours.
The Bandhan Express is expected to ferry about 456 passengers each time.
The only other train service between India and Bangladesh is the Maitri Express,
which runs six days a week between Kolkata and Dhaka.
Route:
[su_table]
| Distance | Place |
| 0 km | Kolkata/Dum Dum/Bangaon |
| 78.5 km | Petrapole |
| 90 km | Benapole/Jhikargachha |
| 175 km | Khulna |
[/su_table]
Immigration and visa have to be cleared in the respective countries.
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