India hands over 10 broad gauge locomotives to Bangladesh

India provided 10 railway locomotives to Bangladesh on Monday as grant assistance, with the leadership of the two sides committing themselves to more connectivity and infrastructure initiatives to boost trade and create new supply chains.The broad gauge locomotives, modified to suit height restrictions in Bangladesh, were flagged off by external affairs minister S Jaishankar and railways minister Piyush Goyal during a virtual ceremony that also featured their Bangladeshi counterparts AK Abdul Momen and Mohammed Nurul Islam Sujan.

Significance:

• Indo-Bangladesh railway collaboration is a vital element of the Bilateral cooperation in promoting connectivity and trade and in boosting the economic partnership.
• Both the countries have been jointly working to enhance rail connectivity by developing some crucial railway projects and by restoring some of the old rail links with Bangladesh.

Rail Links between India and Bangladesh:

• Currently, there are four operational rail links between India and Bangladesh which connects West Bengal with Bangladesh, including Gede (India)- Darshana (Bangladesh), Petrapole (India)-Benapole (Bangladesh), Radhikapur (India)- Birol (Bangladesh), Singhabad (India)- Rohanpur (Bangladesh).
• Two passenger trains- Maitree express (Kolkata-Dhaka) runs for 5 days per week and Bandhan Express (Kolkata-Khulna) runs for 2 days per week.
• At present, the movement of the passenger trains between India and Bangladesh has been temporarily suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Railway projects between India and Bangladesh:
• A total of 17 Railway projects have been included in the Line of Credit Assistance which was extended by India to Bangladesh, with a commitment of USD 2.44 billion.
• All Line of credit has been offered by India to Bangladesh at an interest rate of 1% per annum, with repayment over 20 years with a moratorium of 5 years.
• Out of the 17 railway projects, 9 have been successfully completed, which includes the supply of BG/MG locomotives, railway bridges and signalling equipment, flat wagons among others.
• Railway projects under implementation using LoC assistance include- Khulna-Mongla Railway line project which is likely to be completed by June 2021 and Kulaura-Shahbazpur railway line which is expected to be completed by the end of this year.
• Three other projects are at various stages of implementation pertaining to a double line track, conversion of meter gauge line to dual gauge line, and a new dual gauge line.
• A cross-border rail link of approximately 12 km is also being built under the grant-in-aid between Agartala and Akhaura town on the Dhaka Chittagong trunk line which is likely to be completed by March 2021. It will also further enhance the freight and passenger connectivity between India and north-eastern states.

UPSC