The Bangladesh Railway is going to introduce eight special parcel trains to carry agricultural products and parcel goods from April 14.
In a press briefing held at the Rail Bhaban in Dhaka on Tuesday, the railways minister Nurul Islam Sujan said that they had taken the initiative to facilitate the farmers to sell their products during the upcoming lockdown.
‘We want them to take their products to markets paying less fare through these trains,’ he said.
The number of the trains would be increased or reduced based on demands, he continued.
Replying to a question he also said that if the demands continued, they would continue the service even after lockdown.
According to railway these trains would carry agricultural products including vegetables and fruits.
The trains will run on — Dhaka-Sylhet, Sylhet-Dhaka, Chattogram-Sarishabari, Sarishabari-Chattogram, Khulna-Chilahati, Chilahati-Khulna, Bir Muktijhoddha Sirajul Islam-Dhaka and Dhaka-Bir Muktijhoddha Sirajul Islam routes.
The fare for per kilogram products is fixed at Tk 1.11 on Dhaka-Sylhet route (319 km),Tk 1.174 on Dhaka-Chattogram (346 km), Tk 1.35 on Chattogram-Sarishabari (469 km), Tk 1.302 on Chattogram-Sylhet (390 km), Tk 1.367 on Khulna-Chilahati (490 km) and Tk 1.56 on Bir Muktijhoddha Sirajul Islam-Dhaka (593 km) routes.
On April 5 the railway, imposed a ban on movement of all passenger trains due to the ongoing restrictions on the public movement and businesses.
Only goods laden trains are now in operation following demands.
Earlier, in May, 2020, the railways ministry inaugurated a train for carrying vegetables on the Panchagarh-Chattogram route during pandemic.
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