Bangladesh has received 10 locomotives from India as grant to facilitate its broad gauge passenger carriage and cargo movement in line with growing demand of the services.
Railway Minister Nurul Islam Sujon, Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Monem and Indian Minister for External Affairs S Jaishankar and India Railway Minister Pirush Goyal joined the handing over ceremony through video conference, representing respective countries.
Indian and Bangladesh High Commissioners also witnessed the handing over ceremony virtually.
Bangladesh Railway (BR) officials from Pakshi received the locomotives which were commissioned from 2012 to 2015 at the Darsana-Gede interchange point around 3pm.
Sujon said the government has taken initiative to increase the number of locomotives for BR considering increasing demand for passenger trains and cargo services following increase of trade and business activities.
He said as the BR has already purchased coaches and took initiatives to ensure supply of locomotives from India to meet the demand. The issue was also discussed during his official visit to Indian in August last year.
Member of Parliamentary Standing Committee on Railway Asaduzzaman Nur, Rail Secretary Mohammad Selim Reza, BR Director General Mohammad Shamsuzzaman and other railway senior officials were present.
