Rail connectivity key driver for Indo-Bangla growth

Indian Minister of Railways Ashwini Vaishnaw on Tuesday said India and Bangladesh's partnership had strengthened, reaching new heights. 

A significant part of this achievement was a mutual recognition of the importance of boosting rail connectivity to stimulate efficient, eco-friendly growth.

Addressing virtually in a handing over ceremony of 20 Broad Gauge (BG) locomotives on Tuesday, he said Bangladesh is India’s largest development partner with projects worth nearly $10 billion in the portfolio.

“Rail connectivity is one of the key components of the bilateral development partnership, with railway sector projects of over $300 million under Indian Line of Credit having been completed already, and projects worth over $1.69 billion at various stages of implementation.”

The locomotives were handed over at Darshana-Gede Interchange Point and virtually flagged off by the Indian Minister of Railways Ashwini Vaishnaw with Bangladesh Minister of Railways Md. Nurul Islam Sujan receiving them on behalf of the government of Bangladesh.

The handing over of these 20 BG locomotives, under grant assistance from India, fulfills an important commitment made during the visit of Prime Minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina to India in September 2022, reads a press statement of the High Commission of India (HCI) to Bangladesh. It said these locomotives will help augment the capacity and efficiency of Bangladesh Railway for handling the growing volume of passenger and freight train operations in Bangladesh.

The Indian Minister of Railways in his speech highlighted that India and Bangladesh historically share similar railway systems and therefore are naturally complementary in this sector.

He emphasised the immense potential for cooperation between the two railways and expressed hope that the handing over of 20 BG locos as a token of friendship from India would add to the ease and comfort of rail travel for the people of Bangladesh.

The grant of these locos to Bangladesh is a fine example of the sharing of resources and expertise for growth and development.

Indian Minister Vaishnaw added that enhancing multi-modal connectivity was a priority for both Governments and that railway in particular, had the potential to transform the economies of both countries as well as the entire sub-region.

As a reflection of the deep cultural connect between the people of the two countries, there are three cross-border train services operating between Kolkata-Dhaka, Kolkata-Khulna and Dhaka-New Jalpaiguri.

With a focus on increasing cross-border connectivity and bilateral trade, five of the pre-1965 railway links have been restored and these are playing a critical role in movement of passengers and goods.

For future collaboration, the HCI said several projects have been identified which underscore the importance of greater bilateral and sub-regional connectivity through rail.

“There are also projects underway to restore the remaining pre-1965 rail links and create new rail links to augment connectivity between India’s Northeast and Bangladesh,” reads the press release.

It further said the Government of India is also committed to undertaking training programmes for Bangladesh Railway personnel for skill development, and to undertaking projects for digitization of Bangladesh Railway operations, including for passenger and freight management systems.

The transformational nature of rail based movement, was particularly noted during the challenging pandemic period. Parcel train traffic was augmented for quick mass transportation of essential items and the first parcel train between India and Bangladesh moved in July 2020.

Since then, bilateral trade via rail has seen consistent growth. There is interchange of nearly 100 cargo trains per month and approximately 2.67 MT cargo was supplied to Bangladesh by rail during the last financial year.

As a COVID response measure, Indian Railway's Oxygen Express transported Liquid Medical Oxygen to Bangladesh in railway containers in July 2021 and a total of 20 Oxygen Express Trains were operated to support of Bangladesh's fight against COVID.

Indian Minister of Railways Vaishnaw also highlighted that under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “Gati Shakti” initiative, several projects are being taken up in India to enhance cargo handling capacity and efficiency and in this context, projects can also be taken up in Bangladesh for upgradation of cargo shades, loop-lines, signaling systems and container terminals.

“This would help further reduce logistics costs and make Bangladesh more competitive, thereby bringing significant economic dividends for both countries,” he said and also offered to share the Indian experience with electrification of the railway network with Bangladesh, as electrification was the way forward to enhance efficiency and reduce carbon footprint.

Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Pranay Verma joined the virtual ceremony from Rail Bhabhan in Dhaka while Bangladesh High Commissioner to India Md. Mustafizur Rahman joined the virtual ceremony from Rail Bhawan in Delhi.

Senior officials from Indian Railways, Bangladesh Railways and Ministry of Railways of Bangladesh, were also present at the ceremony.