Gede poised for Kolkata-Dhaka train run

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GEDE (West Bengal) July 27 (BSS/PTI): With the Kolkata-Dhaka train service expected to start in a couple of months, Gede, the sleepy border station, has shot into prominence as the designated immigration and customs checkpoint on the Indian side.
"Initially, the train will carry 300 passengers. Once daily service is introduced, Rs. 330 million would be needed to create all the facilities for 600 passengers. For this, we have submitted a proposal to the Board and they are studying it," Chief Passenger GK Mohanti told visiting newsmen here.
The frequency of the service, train fares and composition of the train would be decided at a two-day meeting between representatives of the Indian and Bangladeshi governments at Kolkata from July 30, he said.
While the Indian side would be led by the Union Home Ministry's Additional Secretary (Border Management) EA Ahmed, the Bangladesh delegation would be led by the Additional Secretary of Ministry of Communications.
Meanwhile, the single-platform Gede station, which handles a few suburban trains daily, has already received a facelift with the Eastern Railway spending Rs.30 million in creating customs and immigration facilities for some 300 passengers expected to avail of the services initially.
The platform is now fenced with wire mesh and adjacent to it a 500 sq metre shed has been constructed for customs and immigration checks with a separate lounge to segregate international passengers from locals. Refreshments, drinking water and toilet facilities have also been created.
As of now, eight immigration counters would be operated at Gede and separate facilities would be provided to customs personnel for x-ray checks and frisking, Divisional Railway Manager Sealdah SK Mondal said.
Once the Rs.330 million proposal was cleared by the Railway Board, the station would be remodelled with the construction of an additional platform and a building for customs and immigration checks with additional counters, extension of the foot overbridge, security fencing model cafeteria and book stall, he said.
Eastern Railway's Chief Passenger Transportation Manager GK Mohanti said that the train would initially terminate at Dhaka Cantonement as eight-kilometre gauge conversion work between the cantonment and the Dhaka's Kamalapur station was yet to be completed.
"The total distance of 506 km now will be covered in 12 hours. Of this, three hours would be spent in customs and immigration checks, during which time, the train would also be sanitised. On the Bangladesh side, customs and immigration checks would be done in Dhaka," he said.
Meanwhile, licensed moneychangers operating outside Gede station are in a quandary as they have not been permitted to set up shop inside the passenger lounge.
"We have been operating here for quite some time. If we are not allowed to operate inside the lounge, the passengers will suffer because Bangladeshi Taka cannot be freely exchanged outside," Bijoy Halder, secretary of a cooperative of licensed moneychangers, said. Asked, Mohanty said that the ER authorities have not received any instruction from the centre to allow moneychangers to set up counters inside the passenger lounge.