After nearly 56 years, commercial services on the restored Haldibari-Chilahati railway corridor between India and Bangladesh will resume on Sunday.

The revamped railway corridor was inaugurated by Bangladesh prime minister Sheikh Hasina and her Indian counterpart Narendra Modi on December 17 last year.

A freight train will make the journey to Bangladesh from the eastern Indian state of West Bengal on the restored 12km corridor, the Indian Railways announced Saturday.

‘The first goods train to Bangladesh through the re-opened Haldibari-Chilahati rail link is being loaded with stone chips at Damdim station of Alipurduar Division, NFR. The train is scheduled to reach Chilahati (Bangladesh) on 01.08.2021,’ the Northeast Frontier Railway tweeted.

The railway corridor had been lying defunct since 1965 after train links between India and then East Pakistan snapped. And once in operation, the corridor will boost bilateral trade between the two countries.

While the distance between India’s Haldibari railway station and the international border is 4.5km, it’s another 7.5km on the Bangladesh side from the ‘zero point’.