The new train 'Banglabandha Express' will start its operation on Rajshahi-Panchgarh railway route soon bearing a huge trade potential
General Manager of West Zone Railway in Rajshahi Mihir Kanti Guha said the decision to inaugurate a new train on Rajshahi- Panchgarh route has been taken considering a huge commercial potential in the region.
Bangla Bandha International Check Post has become popular to India-bound tourists since visiting Darjeeling through this route is very easy, he said adding the distance of Banglabandha ICP is only 440-yards or a half kilometre from Freedom Fighter Serajul Islam Station in Panchgarh.
According to sources, direct communication from Rajshahi to Panchgarh will become easy for people in Rajshahi region to visit Panchgarch and the surrounding northern districts.
The distance of Shiliguri and Darjeeling in India is just a few kilometres from Bangla Bandha. Visitors willing to travel to Sikkim and Nepal will also find the train as a blessing.
According to West Zone railway authorities in Rajshahi, the rail tracks up to Bangla Bandha has been extended and repaired to ease goods and passenger transpiration to and from India and Nepal.
However, West Zone railway is also inaugurating the Bangla Bandha Express passenger train so that not only the people of Rajshahi, Chapainawabganj and the other western part of the country but also people mainly from Maldah, West Dinajpur and Murshidabad districts of India, by crossing the immigration checkpoint of Sona Masjid Land port, could visit Darjeeling, Shiliguri and Jolpaiguri by crossing the Bangla Bandha check post easily.
With availing the service, anyone from Rajshahi will be able to visit Shiliguri and Darjeeling in a day and the communication with the North-Eastern States of India will also be much easier.
It is learnt, the train will leave Rajshahi at 9:15pm and will arrive in Muktijoddha Sirajul Islam station in Panchgarh at 5:10am on the next morning. The train will stop at Natore, Abdulpur, Madhnagar, Ahsanganj, Santahar junction, Joypurhat, Panchbibi, Birampur, Fulbari, Parbatipur Junction, Chirir Bander, Dinajpur, Setabganj, Pirganj, Thakurgaon, Ruhia and Kismat.
It will again depart from Muktijoddha Sirajul Islam station at 8:30 am for Rajshahi.
The fare of the first class, Rajshahi to Mutijoddha Sirajul Islam Station, AC seat was fixed at Tk 715 and Tk 280 for Shovon chair, said Abdul Karim, Superintendent of Rajshahi Railway Station.
