First container train reaches Bangladesh from India

The first container train has arrived at the Benapole railways station of Bangladesh carrying FMCG products and other items. It had started from Majerhat station near Kolkata on Friday with a consignment of soaps, shampoos, other FMCG items and textile fabric in 50 containers.

Daily Current Affairs Quiz 2020

Key-Points

The Container Train Service is going to be a regular service connecting various terminals of Indian Railways network to various stations in Bangladesh.

The process for facilitating movement of Container trains from India to Bangladesh started in 2017 when an MoU was signed by Container Corporation of India (CONCOR) and the Bangladesh Container Company Ltd.

It was followed up by a trial run of the first container train from Kolkata to Bangabandhusetu West station (BBW) in April 2018.

Container Train Service is an additional service which is going to transport cargo by rail to Bangladesh other than the traditional Freight Trains Services and the newly introduced Parcel Train Service (On 13 July, 2020 a parcel train carrying chilli from Andhra Pradesh had arrived in Bangladesh).

Container train services are cost effective and safer to carry FMCG, chemicals and consumer durables requiring shorter transit time. In contrast, traditional freight trains carry bulk items like fertiliser, coal, iron ore and cement among others.