The Centre on Monday announced to run an additional weekly trip of Kolkata-Dhaka Cantonment Maitree Express in addition to the existing days of service. The Indian Railways started running Maitree Express from Kolkata Sunday onwards and the corresponding train from Dhaka Cantonment will leave every Monday. The facility will be operated by Indian Railways for six months, up to June 29.
The arrangement will get reversed and Bangladesh Railway rake will start running from Dhaka Cantonment from July 5 every Sunday and from Kolkata every Monday. The existing Indian rakes are run on Tuesdays and Saturdays from Kolkata and on Wednesdays and Fridays from Dhaka.
A senior Railway official said that the increase in frequency of Maitree Express was decided in the Inter-Railway Meeting between the representatives of Indian Railways and Bangladesh Railway in Kolkata in October last.
The Railways also announced to start three new trains — two for West Bengal and one for Bihar — from Anand Vihar Terminal and Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu will flag off all the three from Anand Vihar station on Tuesday.
Malda-bound train will be available from Anand Vihar station every Saturday and in return journey the train would leave Bengal city every Friday. For Saharsa, the weekly express train will be leaving the Anand Vihar station every Thursday and start the return journey on every Wednesday. The Anand Vihar-Santragachi weekly express train will be available on every Tuesday from Anand Vihar and every Monday from Santragachi, according to the schedule.