The government has taken moves to ease online sale of tickets and increase passenger capacity of the Bangladesh Railway (BR) by rationalising the train routes for facilitating passenger-friendly train services.
Adviser to road transport and bridges and railways ministries Muhammad Fouzul Kabir Khan said a committee has already been formed to find ways to increase passengers' online accessibility with choices of getting train tickets and alternative trains.
Besides, the authorities concerned have also started working on rationalization of routes to shift train services from the less-priority routes to the high-demanding routes, considering context of business.
The adviser was talking to journalists after a meeting with the officials of the Ministry of Railways and BR as well as representatives from Sohoz - to discuss the scopes of improving online sale of tickets and increasing passenger capacity.
"There will be no scope of political influence in (fixing) train services or (getting) train tickets from now on, as train services are for mass people… not for any ministers, secretaries or their relatives."
He also said the meeting tried to diagnose the problem of black marketing of train tickets and the common allegation of unavailability of tickets shortly after launching of sales.
Fouzul Kabir said the committee, to be working on improving the new online ticket system, would have representatives from the ministries of railways and finance and Sohoz as well as foreign experts.
Many trains are now operated on the routes with low numbers of passengers, while good quality coaches are used on the less-priority routes. The rationalistion of the train routes will focus on ensuring improved passenger and freight services, he noted.
Besides, initiatives have also been taken to make the new and costly rail stations and lines vibrant, as (many of) those have been constructed due to political reasons.
"Investment is done, now we have to make it viable. But it cannot be done due to lack of coaches and locomotives," he added.
smunima@yahoo.com