Bandhan Express, a passenger train on Khulna-Kolkata route, has failed to attract passengers.
The commuters who travel to India from Bangladesh by train have mainly blamed high ticket prices and harassments by customs officials on Indian side for the failure to attract passengers.
The 'Bandhan Express' was inaugurated on November 16 last year in a bid to ease communication between the two neighbouring countries.
On April 5, 86 passengers came to Khulna from Kolkata by the train while it left for Kolkata with 115 passengers.
Although, there are 456 seats in the train, reports UNB.
The fare of air-conditioned cabin is Tk 2000 while air-conditioned chair Tk 1500 with travel tax.
The train runs two days a week and takes only four and half hours to reach Kolkata from Khulna as the distance is around 177 kilometres.
A student of Khulna Govt. BL College, Asadul Islam, travelled to Kolkata from Khulna on Thursday last.
He said the service of 'Bandhan Express' is good but most of its seats remained vacant.
"It has not been popular yet among passengers due to complexities in having customs clearances on the Indian side," he said.
Chanchal Biswas, a private company executive, said, "Though the journey by the train is comfortable but passengers seem less interested to use it due to its higher ticket fare."
Manik Chandra Sarker, Khulna Railway Station Master, said the service of 'Bandhan Express' is fairly good but he could not clarify the reason behind the poor number of passengers using the train.
He claimed that the ticket fare is reasonable.