The train service will open a new era of communication between the two countries, which has remained suspended for over 40 years, since war broke out between India and Pakistan in 1965.

The renovation work for the Dhaka-Kolkata train service at the Cantonment Rail Station in the city is going on at a slow pace, as the high officials of both countries are yet to decide the date when the service will commence.

The Dhaka-bound train from Kolkata is supposed to arrive at this station where the work on dual gauge rail is going on. Workers were carrying bricks to build a new platform on the other side of the old platform.

When this correspondent went to the station it looked like an abandoned place. A few passengers were sitting on the platform, which was apparently the only waiting place for the passengers of the station.

However, construction of a waiting room with tiled floor is going on at a rather sluggish pace, as the due date for the commencement of the train service is yet to be decided.

"The main waiting room will hold around 100 passengers. Right now we do not have the capacity to accommodate 300 passengers (which will be carried by the Dhaka-bound train) at a time. But we are expecting that might not be a problem as passengers will constantly be coming and going," said Iqbal Kabir, stationmaster of Cantonment rail station.

"The renovation work is going on but we do not know when the service will start at all," he said.

The waiting room will consist of two bathrooms, a ticket counter and a customs counter, which will be separated by a glass wall. Another small waiting room with a bathroom is being constructed for the second-class passengers.

"Besides what is being built, we need some other things like a bank booth for checking travel tax and cashing travellers checks. We also need proper security here, as the station is in an open area and not within a compound," said Kabir.

"The technicians, workers of electric department, the TXR (an official giving fitness certificate for the train) and other officials will have to be put up somewhere. So we need some more accommodation for the train crew," he said.

"We do not have any system to provide adequate water for drinking and washing for the passengers while travelling in the train," he added.

If online banking system and information centre for the travellers can be set up that will help the passengers more, he added.

The station has also been devoid of any permanent cleaning staff since its permanent sweeper passed away 12 years ago. It has one temporary sweeper and a woman who works on contract.

Qazi Asadullah, additional director general (operation) of Bangladesh Railway, said that a date for the starting of the train service is yet to be decided but they have the preparation to start the service before Ramadan, without giving any details.

"We do not know when the train service will start. The authority will inform us on time. We were told from the higher authority to be prepared to start before Ramadan. We are taking preparation according to that," he said.

According to reports, the issue of setting up barbwire on the border by the Indian authority has delayed the train service.

"The Indian authority wants to set up a barbwire fence from the zero point (border) to their station. To set up this fence India will need the permission of Bangladesh. They have sent the design of the fence to the home ministry. But this has no connection with the train service," said Asadullah.

"At the meeting the Indian side showed a positive attitude. They have set up immigration and customs counters, eateries and a waiting room," he said.

Around 50 new compartments were imported from Indonesia under this project. The work of setting up dual gauge line is going on and within December the line will be laid down up to Dhaka. The customs and immigration checks will be done at Darshana, said officials.

"The train will run twice a week. If the immigration is at the borders, our calculation shows that it would take eleven and half hours to make the journey. But if the checks are done at the departure points, travel time would be reduced by at least three hours," said Asadullah.

Since independence, several initiatives were taken by successive governments to restore the train service but none of those were fruitful. Last time an agreement was signed in 2001 between the two countries, but that agreement could not be materialised within the time limit. Therefore, a new agreement would be needed, said the officials.

The total length of the rail line would be 538 kilometers (km) of which 418 km will be in Bangladesh and 120 km will be in India. Bangladesh will get 78 percent of the revenue and India will get 22 percent as per percentage of rail lines between them.

The fares would be $8 for non-air conditioned (non-AC) coach Shobhon class, $12 for AC coach Snigdha class and $20 for first class AC coach. The train will depart at 7:45am from Dhaka and at 7am from Shialdaha station of Kolkata. Free tickets will be given to children under five years of age.

Resumption of the rail link will relieve thousands of people of the several-hour wait at Benapol and Petrapol land ports in Bangladesh and India for immigration and customs formalities.