Moitree Exp: one ticket, one train

To travel aboard Samjhauta Express, one has to first buy a ticket from Delhi to Attari, then change the train at Attari and travel to Lahore on a new ticket. Same is the case with Thar Express where passengers first travel from Jodhpur to Munabao on one ticket and then switch trains for Khokrapar in Pakistan.

The Moitree Express, will usher in a new system. 8220;From the Indian side, Moitree Express will depart from Kolkata and will have only one stop at Gede station for customs and immigration check, after which it will run non-stop till Dhaka. Passengers will travel on a single ticket and will return to their original seats after getting down at Gede for checks,8221; said a senior railways official said. The train will run on Saturdays and Sundays and will take about 12-hours to reach Dhaka.

Another interesting fact about the upcoming train service is that passengers will end up paying fares for a total distance of 538 kilometres while the actual distance between Kolkata and Dhaka is only 397 kilometres. 8220;An additional 141 kilometres have been added to the total distance, the fare of which has been accommodated into the total fare to compensate for the two new bridges 8212; the Bangabandhu Setu or the Jamuna Bridge and the Sara Bridge on Padma river on the Bangladesh side. It is a kind of toll tax levied on the passengers to recover the costs of constructing these bridges,8221; an official said.

The Bangladesh Government will earn 75 per cent of the revenues generated by the train as only 115 kilometres of the total distance falls on the Indian side. 8220;For both Samjhauta and the Thar Express, Indian Railways charge actual fares only till the respective international borders. In this case, we will only get only 25 per cent of the total fare,8221; the official added.

The train will have seven coaches and since there is no night travel involved, passengers will only have seating facility even in coaches having sleeper facilities. The train leaving India will have one AC First and AC Chair Car coaches in addition to two non-AC Second Seating, one dining car and two SLR second class luggage coaches with a total capacity of 370 passengers. However, the train from Bangladesh, will have a capacity to carry 418 passengers.

Passenger train services were suspended between the two countries after the 1965 Indo-Pak war. Bangladesh was a part of Pakistan at that time. Indian Railways, however, have been operating goods trains to Bangladesh on both broad and metre-gauge routes. Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav is slated to flag off the train from Kolkata on April 14. External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee is also likely to be present on the occasion.