India and Sri Lanka have resumed a passenger ferry service between the two countries after four decades, connecting Nagapattinam in Tamil Nadu with Kankesanthurai in Jaffna.

The four-hour journey of 60 nautical miles (approximately 110km) aboard the high-speed craft, Cheriyapani, was flagged off at Nagapattinam on Saturday morning with 50 passengers and 12 crew members.

This was the second attempt at re-launching an old connectivity project — dating back to the 1900s — which was discontinued in the 1980s because of the civil war in Sri Lanka.

The original service — the Indo-Ceylon Express or Boat Mail — was a train and ferry service that ran between Chennai and Colombo via the Tuticorin port.

Since the end of the civil war in 2009, there have been several attempts at resuming the ferry service. One of these attempts materialised in the form of a service between Tuticorin and Colombo in 2011, but it was suspended as it was not commercially viable and was time-consuming.

The decision to launch the Nagapattinam-Kanekasanthurai service was taken in July during an India visit by Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe. Operated
by the Shipping Corporation of India, the vessel has a carrying capacity of 150 passengers.