Passenger coaches with aluminium bodies, made in India, to arrive in Dhaka by December

All passenger coaches for the Bangladesh railway under the Indian line of credit will arrive in Dhaka by December, the Indian High Commission has said.

Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina on Saturday launched a new train—‘Sonar Bangla Express’—between Dhaka and Chittagong. She also re-launched the Silk City express between Dhaka and Rajshahi with newly built Indian coaches.

Bangladesh and India signed the first-ever line of credit pegged at $1 billion in 2010, but India later converted $200 million of the loan money into grants.

It was the largest ever one-time assistance offered by India to any country.

The Indian High Commission says the Silk City express will have 12 coaches consisting of two AC chair cars (78 seats each), two first AC coaches (24 berths each), six non-AC chair-cars (105 seats each) and two generator cars. The new coaches have aluminium bodies, German LHB technology, and FIAT bogey with disc brakes.

The AC coaches have 15 Ton ACs and the non-ac coaches have 36 fans in each. The al-aluminium coaches have been built in India’s railway coach factory in Kapurthala, Punjab.

Indian High Commissioner Harsh Vardhan Shringla and Additional Secretary & Finance and Financial Advisor of the Ministry of External Affairs Sumith Jerath also attended the programme, among others.