India postpones rail meeting with Bangladesh

India has postponed the inter-governmental rail meeting with Bangladesh, originally scheduled for 8-10 September in Dhaka, despite Dhaka completing all its preparations.

However, due to India’s disinterest, the meeting has been postponed indefinitely at the last moment. Indian Railway Board informally notified Bangladesh Railway that their delegation cannot join the meeting at the scheduled time.

New Delhi has not yet provided any official explanation regarding why they cannot participate or when the meeting might be held, and Bangladesh has not received any official letter from India.

Regular institutional dialogue between Bangladesh and India has already been largely stagnant for a long time. Since the new government assumed office, no bilateral meeting between the two nations has taken place. In this context, the visit of the Delhi delegation and the 38th Inter-Governmental Railway Meeting (IGRM) had gained special significance.  

Bangladesh Railway Director General Md Afzal Hossain told Agamir Somoy, “I have heard that the meeting is being postponed. I do not know the specific reason yet. I hope the meeting will be held within the month of September.”

Discussions regarding the meeting began in June. According to the Ministry of Railways, India first proposed a meeting for 1-3 September in a letter dated 24 June. In response, Bangladesh proposed 8-10 September in a letter on 2 July.

As the host country, Bangladesh’s proposed dates were eventually finalized. Yet, after almost all preparations were completed, India is refusing to sit for the meeting on those dates.

An official of Bangladesh Railway, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said this meeting held much greater significance when considering the political reality. This is because the issue of restarting the closed passenger trains between the two countries was set to receive major priority in the discussions.

In his words, it is not that these trains generate a large amount of revenue for the government; rather, their importance lies more as a symbol of communication and harmony between the people of the two countries.

He added, “Here, unless the central government of India wants it, there is no scope for any Delhi delegation to come to Dhaka. As a result, it is difficult to say there is absolutely no political consideration behind the decision to postpone the meeting.”

Meetings on communication, borders, trade, and other common interests between the two neighboring countries are typically a regular process. Notable among these are the Foreign Office Consultations (FOC) at the foreign secretary level, the “Home Secretary Level Talks”, the Joint Rivers Commission, the Joint Trade Committee (JTC), and the PIWTT Standing Committee meetings regarding waterways and protocol routes.

Some of these meetings take place in Dhaka, while others are held in Delhi. However, since the new government took charge, none of these institutional communication meetings have taken place in Dhaka.

Ministry of Railways said this was supposed to be the 38th meeting of the Bangladesh-India IGRM. The 37th meeting took place from 20-22 January 2025, at the Rail Bhavan in New Delhi. This time, Dhaka held the responsibility of organizing the meeting.

For this session, Bangladesh had already held several preparatory meetings to finalize the agenda. There was a strong preparation to raise the issue of restarting the Maitree, Mitali, and Bandhan Express trains.

In addition, the agenda included proposing the addition of luggage vans to trains for passengers carrying extra bags, demanding a new passenger train between Rajshahi and Kolkata, and finding ways to make the existing rail network more effective.

Eight rail interchanges exist between Bangladesh and India, but only five remain active. New links were added to the railway lines established before independence to facilitate trade and passenger movement.

However, the political situation has heavily impacted passenger transportation. While freight train operations continue, direct rail passenger communication remains stagnant because passenger trains are shut down.

The meeting was also scheduled to cover the step-by-step reactivation of inactive rail links, easing cargo train operations, increasing the capacity of border stations, and developing interstate rail infrastructure. The progress of ongoing joint projects, border rail links, and technical cooperation were also critical parts of the planned discussion.