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The railway authorities of India and Bangladesh have decided to change the days when Maitree Express, that runs between Kolkata and Dhaka Cantonment stations, will operate, according to Eastern Railway. This follows decision at the railway level meeting between the two countries recently.
According to the revised scheduleto be effective from July, the train operated by India will leave Kolkata on Tuesdays and Dhaka on Wednesdays. Now, it leaves Kolkata on Saturdays and Dhaka on Sundays.
Similarly, the train operated by Bangladesh will leave Dhaka on Fridays as against present Tuesdays and Kolkata on Saturdays as against present Wednesdays.
India operates a six-coach train while Bangladesh a five-coach one. It might be noted that Maitree Express was launched on April 14, 2008, with fanfare. Initially, on an average, 60 tickets were sold from Kolkata for each journey. The figure has since risen to around 86.
Delay at border point
However, the journey between Kolkata and Dhaka has not become as popular as it was made out to be presumably because of the time taken at the border point for Customs and Immigration checking. On an average, more than two hours are taken for each train for the checking at Gede, the last railway station on the Indian side, it is learnt.
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