It was a trip down memory lane for old timers who travelled from Dhaka to Kolkata by train on Monday. The last time they could do this was 43 years ago. A 70-year- old Sheikh Rasul Haque who was travelling with his two sons from the Bangladesh capital Dhaka to Kolkata on the maiden trip of the Moitree (friendship) Express on Monday recalled making the trip by train to Kolkata in 1962 as a student. A war in 1965 between India and Pakistan (of which Bangladesh was a part until 1971) stopped the cross border passenger train service that covers a distance of 538 km — 418 km of it in Bangladesh and 120 km in India.

“I have so many fond memories of those days when I used to travel with my father and today I’m happy as I’m travelling with my sons,” Haque said. It was yesterday once more for Momena Begum, 75, and 76-year-old KS Zaman who were among the older set of passengers and swept over by nostalgia as Bangladesh’s foreign minister Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury whistled off the Moitree Express from Dhaka’s cantonment station with nearly 400 passengers on board.

Chowdhury’s Indian counterpart, Pranab Mukherjee, flagged off the reciprocal Moitree Express from India’s Chitpur station in Kolkata with 65 passengers on board on Monday coinciding with the Bangla new year. A Dhaka-based journalist Raheed Ejaz, who was on the Moitree Express of the Bangladesh Railway, said that it was colourful all the way and that, as the train entered India through Bangladesh’s Darshana border, hundreds of people thronged the tracks to wave.

Bangladesh became independent from Pakistan in 1971 following a civil war in which the Indian army was embroiled. But despite the goodwill for India in the newly born country the rail link was never restored and travellers had to be satisfied with bus and air links. Bangladesh and India signed an agreement in 2001 to commission the direct passenger train service between Dhaka and Kolkata. But it took until April 10, this year, before the two countries could sign a supplementary agreement clearing the way for the cross-border run of trains on the Dhaka-Kolkata route.

Passengers from both India and Bangladesh, however, alleged that the customs and immigration on both the sides were taking too much time for clearance and many said it could discourage people from using the train service. Prof. Ataur Rahman, who teaches political science at Dhaka University, said that bureaucratic short-sightedness in both the countries ought not to be allowed to overtake the spirit of the people. “There are good things about India-Bangladesh relations... there are irritants as well,” he said.

The revival of the rail service was welcomed by the people in both the countries and must not be given any political colour, Rahman said, adding that it should be taken as connectivity for the people of the two countries. “Connectivity is a must in the region and Bangladesh and India must be connected and it should be hassle-free because the people will look for the cost benefit,” he said.

“India should be more generous and Bangladesh should be more liberal for a functioning relationship... Bangladesh should not forget India is a power in the region... at the same time India should win the hearts of the people, certainly not by its strength,” Rahman, a well-known analyst said. —IPS