Maitree Express authorities plan to introduce a system for handling luggage similar to that of airports in order to make the journey comfortable for passengers of the only trans-boundary train between Dhaka and Kolkata.
Officials at the operation level of Bangladesh Railway and Eastern Railway of India will hold a meeting on May 23 to recommend an appropriate system for handling luggage.
The system will require passengers to deposit their luggage to the station relevant authority before starting their journey and collect it after reaching their destination. They will not have to carry their luggage at the border stations in Darshana and Gede for customs formalities.
Carrying luggage at the border stations has been considered a major obstacle by passengers.
Bangladesh Railway officials will meet today to prepare their recommendations.
“The operation level officials [of the ‘empowered joint group, formed to review the operation of Maitree Express] will recommend a method for introducing the new luggage carrying system,” SZ Islam, the additional director general (operation) of Bangladesh Railway, told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday.
“They will meet in Kolkata on May 23 to incorporate opinions from other officials,” he said.
Shafiqul Islam, the division commercial officer of Pakshi, and Rathindra Raman, a senior divisional operation manager of Eastern Railway of India, will lead their sides at the meeting.
The recommendations and the minutes of the two meetings will go to the additional member of traffic of the Indian railway and the additional director general of Bangladesh Railway for execution.
The Maitree Express was launched on April 14, 2008. Four trains travel between Dhaka and Kolkata every week. In Bangladesh, a train leaves Dhaka Cantonment station on Friday and returns the next day. In India, the train leaves Sealdah station in Kolkata on Tuesday and returns the next day.