Railway officials of Bangladesh and India have agreed to reconstruct the missing tracks between two bordering stations, in their respective territories, with an aim to implement one of the easiest sub-regional connectivity plans that will link Bangladesh with Bhutan and Nepal via the Indian network.
The missing tracks belong to a rail link which was snapped during the 1965 Indo-Pak war, severing Bangladesh from the India network.
At the last Inter-Governmental Railway Meeting (IGRM) in Dhaka held from April 21-23, high officials gave the go-ahead to rebuilding 11km of the missing tracks between Chilahati station in Nilphamari and Haldibari in India.
“Reopening the route will have a far reaching impact on people-to-people contact, trade and commerce,”said the IGRM minutes obtained by the Dhaka Tribune. The meeting discussed operations and other issues between the two railways for every six months.
“The IGRM has approved, but this forum is not the final authority. The governments will decide on this,” Amzad Hossain, an additional director general of the Bangladesh Railway, told the Dhaka Tribune.
He said the revival of the Chilahati-Haldibari route will also be placed in the upcoming May 28 meeting in Dhaka of the transport officials from the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (Bimstec) countries, namely Bangladesh, Bhutan and India.
“This is the easiest route to connect Bangladesh with India, Bhutan and Nepal. We should execute the project for sub-regional connectivity,” TA Chowdhury, a former director general of Bangladesh Railway, told the Dhaka Tribune.
The estimate says Bangladesh needs to construct 7.5km of new broad gauge tracks on the abandoned land, while the Indian railway will have to lay 3.5km.
Haldibari station is connected with the rest of the Indian railway network that stretches till the Hashimara station along the India-Bhutan border. Hashimara is around 173km from Chilahati, Bangladesh. Besides, India has railway links up to Birgunj – the bordering station along the Nepalese border.
The transport ministers of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) countries have not included the Chilahati-Haldibari route in their plan for enhanced regional connectivity.
The revival of this route will require a maximum of $250,000, according to an estimate of the Bangladesh Railway.
“The Saarc-endorsed routes will connect Bangladesh with India and Nepal; but Chilahati-Haldibari will connect us with Bhutan as well,” TA Chowdhury said.
Located at the extreme north of Bangladesh, the Chilahati-Haldibari link will enable landlocked Nepal and Bhutan to use the Southwestern Mongla port for trade and commerce.
The government has already chalked out a project to construct a 53km new rail link from Khulna to Mongla port at a cost of $210m, to be provided by the Indian government as a grant.
