Discussions have been going on for more than two years. At last, it has seen the light of day. Now goods from Bangladesh will go to India by train. Freight trains will soon run between the two countries experimentally.
Bangladesh-India Commerce Secretary level meeting was held last March. There it was decided that goods will be exported. Dhaka-Delhi agreed to conduct a joint study on railways, port infrastructure, and economic partnership agreements.
On 17 May, the Tax and Customs Authority of India issued an ordinance in this regard. It said that under the existing rail services on both sides, the empty containers will be able to be transported to different destinations in the two countries after unloading Indian goods.
Initiatives were taken to launch this rail link in continuation of the development of friendly relations between Bangladesh and India. At present Darshana-Gede, Benapole-Petrapol, Chilahati-Haldibari, and Biral-Radhikapur are fully operational.
Among them, Darshana-Gede is known as Trans-Asian Railway (TAR) Route-1 and Rahanpur-Singabad as TAR-2 Route. Indian products are exported to Bangladesh by train using these two.
Now after the unloading of Indian goods, Bangladeshi goods will also be exported to India on these two routes on the return train. The country’s Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs has already issued instructions in this regard.
However, they have given conditions. First, the goods have to be sent in sealed containers by rail from Bangladesh. Second, the movement of goods and trains will be monitored through an electronic tracking system at the customs station so that no illegal products can enter.
Bangladesh’s exports to India have exceeded 1 billion dollars. However, till now, the containers that came to the country would return empty.
Bangladesh-India freight train service began to strengthen during the COVID-19 pandemic. Officials say plans are in the works to launch cross-border rail links to boost trade with Bhutan and Nepal.
