India and Bangladesh will hold the annual railway talks here from Monday to undertake a complete review of railway cooperation between the two countries and ways and means to improve connectivity and services.

The India-Bangladesh Inter-Governmental Railway Meeting (IGRM) will take on April 21-23 in Dhaka, Indian Embassy here said.

The meeting will undertake a complete review of railway cooperation between the two countries and ways and means to improve connectivity and services.

The two delegations would also discuss freight train operations and the feasibility of introducing container train services between India and Bangladesh.

The Indian High Commission here said the three-day additional secretary level meeting would review railway cooperation between the two countries and “ways and means to improve connectivity and services”.

The railway cooperation assumed significance as India’s $800 million line of credit rolled out mostly for railway development projects in Bangladesh, Bdnews24 said.

Currently ‘Maitree Express’ is operating between Dhaka and Kolkata on regular basis.

The meeting would discuss measures to make the travel “more convenient and comfortable”.

Ways of re-opening some old connectivity points such as Birol (Bangladesh) — Radhikapur (India), Chilahati (Bangladesh) — Haldibari (India), and construction of new connectivity points such as Akhaura-Agartala would also be discussed.

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