India and Bangladesh signed an agreement in July 2001 during the Awami League rule to introduce a passenger rail service between Dhaka and Kolkata. But the agreement has yet to be implemented due to a lack of political will, sources say.

Communications Minister Nazmul Huda on Tuesday told Indian High Commissioner Veena Sikri that Dhaka would consider the proposal. He stressed the need to strengthen relations between the two neighbouring countries on the basis of a Saarc spirit.

Huda later told The Daily Star that the agreement has not been implemented because the present government has not taken an active interest in it.

The railway departments of both countries conducted trial services of passenger rails on the Joydevpur -Shialdah route following the agreement. Officials of the ministries of communication, home affairs, and finance, as well as representatives from other related organisations also participated.

They found the route feasible and economically viable, determining that a significant number of passengers would benefit from a rail journey. The public on both sides has since greeted the prospect with enthusiasm, the sources said.

But the issue went into deep freeze following Bangladesh's political changeover in October 2001, because the BNP-led four party alliance government that came to power failed to take it seriously.

After three years, Delhi has raised the issue again. On Tuesday, the Indian High commissioner in Dhaka called on the communications minister and suggested restoration of the agreement.

Finance Minister M Saifur Rahman, recently returned from India, told journalists that Bangladesh might give transit to India by rail instead of by road.

Bangladesh railway officials, meanwhile, do not see any problem in introducing passenger services between the two important cities as the necessary infrastructure for it already exists.

"The goods carrying trains often come inside Bangladesh from India through Darshana border in Kushtia, so there is no problem in running the service through this border," said a high official of Bangladesh rail way.

The passengers who often go to Kolkata for medical treatment would feel much more comfortable on a train journey instead of a road journey, he pointed out.