Indian Railways handed over 103 freight trains carrying essential commodities such as onions, ginger, chilies, maize, turmeric, rice seed, sugar, finished products, and raw materials for industries to Bangladesh Railways last month.
Though there are regular freight train operations between both the railways, for the first time the numbers of freight trains operated by both the Railways have crossed the 100 mark, said the Indian High Commission in Dhaka on Thursday.
Both the railways had come up with solutions to transport all the essential commodities across the border when the lockdown and transport restrictions were imposed by both the countries to tackle the spread of Covid-19.
Many importers are now using the rail route for transporting their goods though usually they are not reliant upon the rail transportation services.
Upon seeing the success of the movement of goods by rail, now Bangladesh Railways has permitted to introduce the Parcel Train Service between India and Bangladesh.
The carrying capacity of the parcel train will be 238 metric tons.
This will be a great opportunity for traders to import a smaller quantity of goods, said the Indian side.
Earlier, Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Riva Ganguly Das had requested the Ministry of Railways, NBR, and Ministry of Commerce to look into railways as a viable option during several video conference meetings arranged by the High Commission of India.
After discussions, now NBR and Bangladesh Railways have agreed to facilitate Container Train Service through Benapole-Petrapole Rail Link.
It is expected that these initiatives will widely serve the importers and exporters requirements in the current crisis and help in minimising the disruption in the supply chain, said the Indian High Commission.