CHATTOGRAM, May 31: Special train service on the Chattogram-Cox's Bazar route will resume operation before Eid-ul-Azha.
Presently, the service on the route remains stopped for a shortage of engines.
Saiful Islam, Chattogram divisional manager of the Bangladesh Railway (BR), made the disclosure on Thursday.
Following the demand of the residents of Chattogram and Cox's Bazar, the BR is going to make the service regular soon.
According to Mr Islam, the special train on the Cox's Bazar-Chattogram route has remained stopped due to engine shortage. It will resume operation before Eid.
Sources said the special train started running on the route on April 08 on the occasion of Eid-ul-Fitr.
The service gained huge popularity after its launch.
The train was scheduled to run until June 10 with two extensions due to commuter demand.
However, the movement of the train was halted on Thursday, 11 days before the deadline, due to a shortage of engines.
Chattogram-Cox's Bazar Passenger Welfare Council general secretary Abu Sayeed Talukder said, "We met the railways minister, submitted a written demand to Eastern Railway officials to regularise the service."
"The special train was stopped. It's alleged that bus owners' conspiracy is behind this halt to the service on the route. We demand that the train be restarted immediately before Eid-ul-Azha."
It is to be noted that a decade after the government launched a groundbreaking initiative, the long-held dream of establishing a rail link between Cox's Bazar and Chattogram has ended now.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina opened the Chattogram-Dohazari-Cox's Bazar-Gumdhum rail line on 11 November 2023.
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