Bangladesh Railway (BR) is set to launch special mango parcel train between Chapainawabganj and Dhaka to carry the juicy seasonal fruit from main mango producing districts of the country.
According to a notice issued by BR's chief operating superintendent (west) office in Rajshahi, a set of special trains named mango special-1 and mango special-2 will be operating every day from Chapainawabganj and Rajshahi.
The mango special-2 train will halt at Amnura Bypass, Kakonhat, Rajshahi, Sardaho Road, Arashi, Abdulpur, Tangail, Mirzapur, Hitech City, Joydevpur, Tongi, Dhaka Biman Bandar, Dhaka Cantonment and Tejgaon.
The mango special-1 train will stop at Tejgaon, Tongi, Tangail, S M M Ali, Chatmohor and Rajshahi.
However, the parcel trains may halt at other stations based on enough parcel booking and unloading previously.
The notice also said apart from mango, other vegetables and materials can also be parceled through these special trains.
Since the lockdown imposed in the country from March 26, the BR has been operating special parcel trains mainly in its western zone to facilitate transportation of agricultural produce.
Though initially the parcel trains could not get response from traders and business community, the BR has made the service acceptable by changing the routes.
Besides, Bangladesh Railway is ready to resume operation of 11 sets of passenger trains on Wednesday.
Earlier on Sunday, it resumed operation of eight intercity trains in line with health guidelines.
The BR could ensure social distancing among passengers and railway staff by taking disinfection measures at the stations and trains, according to passengers.
Passengers who arrived at Kamalapur station have expressed satisfaction with train service since its resumption. They said they have yet to face problem in buying train tickets online.
BR officials said ticket sale, on an average, for eight intercity trains was 90 per cent.
Kamalapur station will be getting, on an average, six to seven trains daily with resumption of 11 more trains. Of these, four trains will run to and from Dhaka and the rest in its western and eastern zones including Khulna, Rajshahi, Chaipainawabganj and Chandpur.
BR Director General Mohammad Shamsuzzaman on Tuesday in letter expressed his gratitude to the railway officials and employees for extending their support to ensure social distance and hygiene etc. taking the risk of their lives.
When asked about the BR's capacity to ensure similar health related service with its limited staff from Wednesday, Additional Director General (Operation) Mia Jahan said all the trains have been selected with the schedule having a gap from one to another for enabling them to get necessary preparations.
He said all trains are disinfected two times at starting point and ending station.
After 67 days, BR resumed its train service keeping 50 per cent seats vacant to maintain social distance among passengers.
The 11 sets of trains to be operated from Wednesday include Teesta Express on Dhaka-Dewanganj Bazar, Benapole Express on Dhaka-Benapole, Nil Sagar Express on Dhaka-Chilhati, Rupsha Express on Khulna-Chilhati, Kapatakkhyo Express on Khulna-Rajshahi, Modhumati Express on Rajshahi-Goalandoghat, Meghna Express on Chattogram-Chandpur, Kishoreganj Express on Dhaka-Kishoreganj and Upokul Express on Dhaka-Noakhali.
However, there is still risk of spreading of Covid-19 among the passengers on road transport and water vessels for not ensuring health guidelines by operators.
It was alleged that launch owners were not following the instructions of Shipping Directorate regarding keeping 13 square feet space between passengers on launches.
As road transport owners already got approval from the government to operate buses and minibuses with 60 per cent increased fares, launch owners have also pressed home their demand.
At the meeting with Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority before resumption of launch service, the owners agreed to operate their launches as per existing fares.
The meeting decided to review the issue after 10 days of operation. Though the launch operators have been asked to operate launch service, the passengers alleged that they sell higher number of tickets against permissible seat arrangement.
The launch owners showed the ground that as they do not get enough passengers, they refrained from plying all launches.
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