Chilahati-Haldibari rail link to reopen

NILPHAMARI, Sept 25: After long 52 years Chilahati-Haldibari rail route link is to be re-established which was abandoned after the Indo-Pak war in September 1965.

The ECNEC approved the construction of the railway tracks between Chilahati and Haldibari border project at a cost of Tk 800 million aiming to establish railway link with India.

Sources said the rail line between Chilahati and Haldibari has a distance of 11.34 km out of which 8.10 km are in Bangladesh portion and 3.24 km are in Indian portion.

The rail connectivity would open the scope for trains to travel to Shiliguri and Darjeeling in India.

The and port facility would also start functioning as both the Governments agreed on it and Bangladesh government declared Chilahati land custom office as full-fledged land port in a gazette notification on August 01, 2013.

Sources said this railway is a heritage of the sub-continent as more than 150 years mail trains used to ply between Calcutta and Darjeeling during the British rule and afterwards.

The sanctioning of Tk 800 million of the ECNEC created ecstasy among the citizens of the northern region.

Tapan Kumar Chakrabarty, Chairman of land port authority Bangladesh, said Chalahati Land Port would start functioning after the completion of the renovation works of the railway.

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