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After connecting the Nilphamari Chilahati and India’s Haldibari railway line, this time an Indian locomotive touched the border with Bangladesh. The locomotive crossed the Haldibari border train station in the Cooch Behar district of India around 11:30 am on Thursday and reached the border with Bangladesh. After staying there for 10 minutes, he went back to Haldibari. Later, Indian Railways officials exchanged views with locals in the border area.
The pilot operation was led by JP Singh, Chief Engineer, North Eastern Railway of India, Vikemina, Deputy Chief Engineer, and PKJ, Executive Engineer.
The Indian delegation was welcomed by Engineer Abdur Rahim, Project Director, Pakshi Division, Western Railway, Bangladesh, Ahsan Uddin, Executive Engineer, and Touhidul Islam, Deputy Assistant Engineer.
After 55 years, in the presence of Indian Railways in the two border areas, curious people from both countries have gathered on both sides. They have come from everywhere to see the long awaited movement of the train. Standing on both sides of the border, they enjoyed the sight of the juncture of the fulfillment of the dream.
Rafiqul Islam, 60, from Thatari Para village in Ketkibari junction of Domar upazila district, came there to enjoy the view from a distance of six kilometers. At the time, he said, the train was traveling this route before. On that train we were traveling to Kolkata, India. After that, when it was closed, after 55 years, I saw the Indian railways.
The Haldibari-Chilahati rail connection was established in the presence of the border guards of the two countries near Pillar No. 72 of the Chilahati border in the district’s Domar upazila on Tuesday afternoon. It used the route to run test trains in parts of India.
According to railway sources, the governments of the two countries took the initiative to reopen the abandoned Chilahati-Haldibari railway line after 1985. With this initiative, the railway construction works from Chilahati station to the Domar upazila border of Nilphamari are about to end. India had previously completed the construction of the railway line from Haldibari railway station to the border, but they had a meter and a half left at zero point. On Tuesday afternoon, the Indian Railways completed the rest of the work and established a connection with Bangladesh.
Even after the partition of Pak-India on August 15, 1947, rail traffic continued to operate on this route. At that time, passenger and freight trains used to run on this route in different parts of the two countries. After the war between Pakistan and India in 1965, rail service between the two countries was stopped. The current government has undertaken a project at a cost of Tk 80 crore 16 lakh 94 thousand to open the closed road. The project includes the construction of a 6,724 km wide-gauge railway from the Chilahati train station to the border and the construction of a 2.38 km circular loop and other infrastructure. The project was officially inaugurated at the Chilahati train station facilities on September 21 last year. Nurul Islam Sujan. On August 26 this year, he (Minister of Railways) inspected the railway construction works at the India-Bangladesh crossing at Zero Point in Chilahati.
At that time, he said, the prime ministers of the two countries Sheikh Hasina and Narendra Modi would officially inaugurate the railways on this occasion on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the independence of Bangladesh on December 26 this year or March 26, 2021. If the Corona situation continues, it will be done by videoconference.
Chilahati Station Chief. Momin Uddin Pramanik has confirmed the establishment of a railway connection on the border of the two countries.
Confirming the operation on the Indian side, Abdur Rahim, project manager of the Pakshi division of Western Railway, said that India had completed the construction of the railway line for its part and had also completed the test. The test train will run the last week of this month in Bangladesh.
Meanwhile, the Indian Assistant High Commissioner in Bangladesh, Shri Sanjib Kumar Bhati, visited the Indian-funded Kalibari temple in the city of Nilphamari on Thursday afternoon and said that the Chilahati-Haldibari railway would be put into operation soon. The construction work is almost finished. On Thursday, a motor from India arrived at Chilahati-Haldibari Zero Point experimentally and returned.
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