The Mitali Express (13131/13132) train ( bn, মিতালী এক্সপ্রেস) is an international express rail service which connects the Indian city of

Siliguri Siliguri, ) is a major tier-II city in West Bengal. It forms twin cities, "Twin Cities" with the neighboring district capital of Jalpaiguri. The city spans areas of the Darjeeling district, Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri districts in the Indian sta ...

with the

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...

i capital

Dhaka Dhaka ( or ; bn, ঢাকা, Ḍhākā, ), formerly known as Dacca, is the capital and largest city of Bangladesh, as well as the world's largest Bengali-speaking city. It is the eighth largest and sixth most densely populated city ...

every week. It is the third modern-day fully air conditioned passenger train link between the Indian state of West Bengal and Bangladesh. Both the prime ministers of the two neighbouring countries officially inaugurated the non-stop passenger train with ten compartments on the new 513 km route from Dhaka on 26 March 2021, the day Bangladesh celebrated the golden jubilee of its independence. The prime minister of India was in Dhaka to mark the auspicious occasion of fifty years of independence of Bangladesh. After 56 years of stoppage, this train route recreates the previous Siliguri route between India and Bangladesh. A valid visa and passport is required beforehand to purchase a ticket for the Mitali Express train. Tickets are available at Cantonment railway station in Dhaka, Bangladesh and at

New Jalpaiguri railway station New Jalpaiguri Junction railway station (station code NJP) established in 1960, is an A1 category broad gauge and narrow-gauge railway station under Katihar railway division of Northeast Frontier Railway zone. It is the largest as well as the ...

in Siliguri, India. Though the train was inaugurated on 26 March 2021, but in the wake of

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, its commercial run was postponed since its inauguration. However, the train made its first commercial run on 1 June 2022.

History

The Prime Minister of India,

Narendra Modi Narendra Damodardas Modi (; born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician serving as the 14th and current Prime Minister of India since 2014. Modi was the Chief Minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014 and is the Member of Parliament from ...

, together with the Prime Minister of Bangladesh,

Sheikh Hasina Sheikh Hasina Wazed (''née'' Sheikh Hasina ; ; bn, শেখ হাসিনা ওয়াজেদ, Shēkh Hasinā, , born 28 September 1947) is a Bangladeshi politician who has served as the Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Prime Minister ...

, jointly flagged off the New Jalpaiguri to Dhaka Mitali Express train service via video conference from Dhaka on 26 March 2021. Prime Minister

was in Dhaka to celebrate the fifty years of Independence of Bangladesh. The train service was inaugurated on the occasion of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's birth centenary and the golden jubilee (fifty years) of

Independence of Bangladesh Independence of Bangladesh was declared on 26 March 1971, celebrated as Independence Day, from Pakistan. The Independence Day of Bangladesh is celebrated on 26 March when Sheikh Mujibur Rahman declared the Independence of Bangladesh. The Bangladesh ...

. However, the train could not be operated till June 2022 since its inauguration due to

related restrictions. On 1 June 2022, Minister of Railways of India

Ashwini Vaishnaw Ashwini Vaishnaw (born 18 July 1970) is an Indian politician and former IAS officer currently serving as the Minister of Railways, Communications and Electronics & Information Technology in Government of India, since 8 July 2021. He is a membe ...

and his Bangladeshi counterpart Md. Nurul Islam Sujon from Delhi flagged off its first commercial run through video conference from Indian Railways Board's Conference Room at New Delhi, India.

Naming

Railway officials proposed four different names to the Prime Minister of Bangladesh for the name of the new train. These were ''Mitali'', ''Sampriti'', ''Suhrid'' and ''Bondhu''. Prime Minister

chose the name Mitali. Mitali Express similar to

Maitree Express The Maitree Express train ( bn, মৈত্রী এক্সপ্রেস), pronounced ''Moitree Express'' is the first modern day, fully air conditioned, international, express train service connecting Dhaka in Bangladesh to Kolkata in th ...

and

Bandhan Express The Bandhan Express train ( bn, বন্ধন এক্সপ্রেস) is an international express rail service which runs between the Indian city Kolkata and the Bangladeshi city Khulna every week. It is the second modern day, fully air ...

is a

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

name. The Bengali word ''Mitali'' means ''Friendship'' in English ( bn, বন্ধুত্ব).

Route

The train starts at

Dhaka Cantonment railway station Dhaka Cantonment railway station is a railway station located in Dhaka, Bangladesh. It is notable as one of the termini of the Bangladesh-India Maitree Express international passenger train service. The station is located in its namesake Dhak ...

on the Bangladesh side, stopping at Parbatipur and

Chilahati Chilahati ( bn, চিলাহাটি) is a border railway station in Bangladesh, situated in Nilphamari District, in Rangpur Division. It is an active railway transit point on the Bangladesh-India border. Important track in the British per ...

and then crosses the border to Haldibari. The distance between Dhaka and Chilahati is 453 km and from Chilahati to New Jalpaiguri is 71 km. Two extra coaches are added at Chilahati for passengers travelling from that area to India. The train then crosses the Indian side, stopping at Haldibari before reaching

. While the proposed halts of the train on the Indian side do not include

Jalpaiguri railway station Jalpaiguri Town railway station serves Jalpaiguri city in Jalpaiguri district in the Indian state of West Bengal. History During the British period all connections from southern parts of Bengal to North Bengal were through the eastern part of B ...

, there are long-standing demands for a stoppage at Jalpaiguri town.

Fares

The fare is expected to be calculated on the basis of

US Dollars The United States dollar (Currency symbol, symbol: Dollar sign, $; ISO 4217, code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from Dollar, other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American ...

. Though at the New Jalpaiguri station, the transactions will be made using

Indian rupee The Indian rupee ( symbol: ₹; code: INR) is the official currency in the republic of India. The rupee is subdivided into 100 ''paise'' (singular: ''paisa''), though as of 2022, coins of denomination of 1 rupee are the lowest value in use wh ...

. The ticket fare for a particular month will be decided on the basis of the

exchange rate In finance, an exchange rate is the rate at which one currency will be exchanged for another currency. Currencies are most commonly national currencies, but may be sub-national as in the case of Hong Kong or supra-national as in the case of ...

with

on the first day of that month. As the train will solely be operated and maintained by

Indian Railways Indian Railways (IR) is a statutory body under the ownership of Ministry of Railways, Government of India that operates India's national railway system. It manages the fourth largest national railway system in the world by size, with a tot ...

, the rates of ticket fare will also be at their discretion. A 5%

GST GST may refer to: Taxes * General sales tax * Goods and Services Tax, the name for the value-added tax in several jurisdictions: ** Goods and services tax (Australia) ** Goods and Services Tax (Canada) ** Goods and Services Tax (Hong Kong) **G ...

will be added to basic fare as well. In India, the tickets will be available at the dedicated PRS counter of

Guwahati Railway Station Guwahati railway station (Station code: GHY) is located in the heart of the city of Guwahati, Assam. It is the first fully solar-operated railway station in India. It has been rated as A1-category station. Just behind the Guwahati Railway Stati ...

and

Kolkata railway station Kolkata railway station (formerly known as Chitpur station) is the newest of the five intercity railway stations serving Howrah and Kolkata, India; the others are Sealdah station in Kolkata and Howrah station, Shalimar station and in Howrah. ...

Timings and frequency

Since its inauguration, the Bi-weekly train runs on Sundays and Wednesdays from New Jalpaiguri and on Mondays and Thursdays from Dhaka Cantonment. However the stoppages at Haldibari and Chilahati are technical halts only. Passengers boarding or deboarding are not allowed at these two stations. Timings as of now are: –

Coach composition

Pure

LHB coach Linke Hofmann Busch (LHB) coach is a passenger coach of Indian Railways that is developed by Linke-Hofmann-Busch of Germany (renamed Alstom LHB GmbH in 1998 after the takeover by Alstom and now known as Alstom Transport Deutschland) and mostly ...

in red-grey (used by

Rajdhani Express Rajdhani may refer to: * ''Rajdhani'' (film), 1956 Indian film * ''Rajadhani'' (1994 film), Indian Malayalam-language film * ''Rajadhani'' (2011 film), Indian Kannada-language film * Rajdhani, Kotli, a village in Pakistan * Rajdhani, Gorakhpur, a ...

es) and sky blue-grey (used by

Shatabdi Express Shatabdi Express trains are a series of fast passenger trains operated by Indian Railways to connect important metro cities. Shatabdi Express are day-trains and mostly return to their origin station the same day. The trains were first introdu ...

es) manufactured in India, are used for this train. The train has 10 coaches. 4 AC Executive Class, 4 AC Chair Car and 2 power car brake vans. ;Legends ; Rake composition of 13132 New Jalpaiguri to Dhaka * while 13131 Dhaka to New Jalpaiguri has reverse rake composition of 13132.

References

External links

Bangladesh Railway

{{International trains from India Named passenger trains of Bangladesh Named passenger trains of India International named passenger trains Bangladesh–India relations Rail transport in West Bengal Transport in Dhaka Transport in Siliguri