Train service between Bangladesh and India chugged along for the first time in more than 40 years on Monday, the first day of the Bengali New Year.

A train bedecked with garlands, dubbed the "Maitree (Friendship) Express," left a railway station in Dhaka Monday morning for the eastern Indian city of Calcutta, almost 540 kilometres away. More than 500 passengers were aboard the train.

The Maitree (Friendship) Express, the first direct passenger train between India and Bangladesh in 43 years, leaves a station in Dhaka en route to Calcutta Monday.
(STRDEL/AFP/Getty Images)

The 360-seater Calcutta-Dhaka train was carrying 65 passengers as it embarked Monday, the BBC reported.

Crowds of cheering people lined the railway tracks on the border between the two countries as the trains moved forward on their nearly 12-hour journeys between the two cities.

Trains have not travelled both ways between the countries since the 1965 war between India and Pakistan, when Bangladesh was still part of the latter country. Bangladesh went on to become independent of Pakistan in 1971 with help from the Indian military.

The two countries agreed to resume train service in 2001, but disagreements over security delayed its start.

With files from the Associated Press