India leads in Dhaka-Istanbul rail line

To attempt to build direct rail line crisscrossing through India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Iran, with Istanbul the last destination, Indian Railways has decided to take the lead in a project where a train will potentially make a journey of 6,000 kilometers from Bangladesh to Afghanistan for the very first time. The container train will begin its journey from Dhaka and Istanbul will be the final destination. In this connection, Indian Railways is in the process of setting up a group of different railway networks across West and South East Asia and officials from Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Iran, and Turkey, are scheduled to meet to discuss this plan on March 15-16. The rail route will be called the Trans-Asian Railway southern corridor, which was originally identified by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) to build a rail link between Thailand and Turkey. Since Myanmar has incomplete railway links, the container will be sent from Dhaka instead. In 2016, the officials from Indian Railways and Container Corporation of India visited Dhaka for a reconnaissance of the route that has been proposed and the issue involved will be resolved shortly.