Twenty broad gauge railway locomotives gifted by India to Bangladesh to augment its railway network made their way into the neighbouring country via the Bengal border on Tuesday evening.

Parked near Gede station in Nadia, the locos were flagged off virtually from Delhi at 4.30 pm. They chugged into Darsana in Bangladesh.

The locomotives with a maximum speed of 120kmph have a combined worth of more than Rs 100 crore, said railway officials.

The delivery fulfilled a commitment that the Narendra Modi government made during the visit of Prime Minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina to India in October 2019, said officials.

In June 2020, India provided 10 locomotives to its neighbour.

The Indian side has suitably modified the locomotives to meet the requirements of Bangladesh Railway. This handover will contribute to handling the increasing volume of passenger and freight train operations in Bangladesh.

“India’s relationship with Bangladesh is civilizational, cultural, social and economic. The Prime Ministers of both countries are playing a proactive role to improve the bilateral relationship. Indian Railways is also playing a vital role in improving and strengthening rail connectivity across the border and improving trade between both countries," said Ashwini Vaishnaw, the railway minister.

His Bangladeshi counterpart, Md. Nurul Islam Sujan, expressed his "heartfelt gratitude" to India.

Vishnaw said the "response" of three pairs of passenger trains running at present between India and Bangladesh was very "encouraging" and the government of India was now looking for more cross-border links, particularly "exchange of passenger and cargo traffic".

The three pairs of passenger trains between India and Bangladesh are the Kolkata (Chitpore)-Dhaka Maitree Express, Kolkata-Khulna Bandhan Express and New Jalpaiguri-Dhaka Mitali Express.

Trade between the countries via the railway network translates to around 100 cargo trains per month. "Approximately, 2.66 million tonnes of cargo was sent to Bangladesh in the last financial year," said a railway official.

From India, the export commodities include stone, foodgrain, china clay, gypsum, maize and onion, light commercial vehicles and tractors," said the official. Since 2020, container trains have also been running between the countries,

Indian products have a huge demand in Bangladesh. Trucks and goods trains carry these products. They take up a lot of time during the journey.

A truck takes around a month to reach Bangladesh and deliver the products, spending days at customs clearance points.

Container trains save time and trade costs apart from making trade safer and more organised. Goods trains carry coal, iron ore, fertiliser, cement and other such freight with a longer transit time. Container trains are better suited for ferrying machine parts, chemicals, automobiles and consumer durables that involve a shorter transit time.