The Western Zone Railway Authority will operate four pairs of special trains on Thursday (25 December) to carry the leaders and activists of Bangladesh Jatyiatabadi Dal (BNP) to Dhaka marking the return of its Acting Chairman Tarique Rahman. For this purpose, the regular journeys of three trains on different routes have been cancelled.
Farid Ahmed, General Manager of Western Zone Railway, confirmed this.
According to him, one train each has been allocated for BNP leaders and activists on the Khulna-Dhaka-Khulna, Jashore-Dhaka-Jashore, Chatmohor-Dhaka Cantonment-Chatmohor and Panchagarh-Dhaka-Panchagarh routes. Approximately 1,900 people can travel on these trains.
He stated that following applications from BNP in Dhaka and locally, these trains have been hired on up and down directions.
He further mentioned that to provide trains to BNP, the regular journeys of three trains had to be cancelled for one day.
These trains are: Rajbari Commuter (Rajbari-Poradaha), Dhalarchar Express (Pabna-Rajshahi), and Rohanpur Commuter (Rohanpur-Rajshahi).
This official, at the same time, Ahmed expressed regret for the temporary inconvenience caused to passengers who regularly use these trains.
According to railway sources, Bangladesh railway has allocated special trains on multiple routes nationwide (with reports indicating up to 10 routes and 20 special trains overall, plus additional coaches) on the occasion.
Though the cancellations of regular commuter services were limited and caused some public inconvenience, but were justified for facilitating party supporters. This event is seen as a major political moment ahead of upcoming elections.
Aman/