The Bangladesh Railways (BR) received 10 locomotives on Monday from India as a grant to facilitate its broad-gauge passenger carriage and cargo movement in the country.

Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen, Railways Minister Nurul Islam Sujon and Indian Minister for External Affairs Subrahmanyam Jaishankar and Indian Railways Minister Piyush Vedprakash Goyal joined the handover ceremony through video conference from their respective countries.

The Bangladesh high commissioner to India and the Indian high commissioners to Bangladesh also witnessed the ceremony virtually.

BR officials from Pakshi received the locomotives, which were commissioned from 2012 to 2015, at the Darsana-Gede interchange point at around 3:00pm.

Railways Minister Sujon said the government has taken the initiative to increase the number of locomotives considering the growing demand for its passenger and cargo services via rail.

As the BR has already purchased coaches, an initiative was taken to ensure supply of locomotives from India, he said, adding that the issue was discussed during his official visit to India in August last year.

After getting the locomotives, the crisis for locomotive would be eased to some extent and both passenger and cargo movement will increase between the eastern and the western zones, he said.

Member of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on the Ministry of Railways Asaduzzaman Noor, Secretary of the ministry Mohammad Selim Reza, BR Director General Mohammad Shamsuzzaman and other senior officials of the BR also joined the programme from the Rail Bhaban in the city.Report:FE