Passenger train fares are set to increase from May 4 as Bangladesh Railway has decided to stop rebating fares of passengers travelling over 100 kilometres.
Currently, BR gives a 20-30 percent rebate for those travelling over 100km, meaning the fares for most destinations will rise if this rebate is cancelled, officials said.
BR today published a circular on national daily Jugantor, mentioning that it will not provide the rebate facility, that has been in place since 1992, from May 4.
"A passenger who will travel more than 100km from May 4 has to pay higher fare than the existing rate as the rebate will be lifted from that day [May 4]," a top official of BR told The Daily Star today.
The fare rebates are: 20 percent for a passenger travelling between 101km and 150km; 25 percent for 251km to 400km and 30 percent rebate for distances over 401km.
All of these rebates are going to be cancelled.
However, the fare up to 100km will remain unchanged, which means fares of several local trains operating on routes like Dhaka-Narayanganj or Dhaka-Joydebpur will likely remain the same, officials added.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has already given the go-ahead to BR's proposal, BR Director General Sardar Shahadat Ali had told The Daily Star on March 16.
They had a plan to implement this decision from April 1.
But Railways Minister Zillul Hakim, following media reports, on March 18 said they have no plans to hike train fares anytime soon, a claim that goes against official documents signed by the minister himself.
He dismissed the news on railway's move to raise fares of passenger trains as "rumours", according to a rail ministry press release on March 18.
BR stopped all preparation to implement the decision from April 1 after the minister's comments, a BR official said.
"We are not directly increasing train fare but once the rebate will be lifted fare of most of the trains will increase ultimately," he said wishing not to be named.
According to the BR Information Book-2021, the average distance travelled by a passenger is 152.48km.
The Daily Star today called BR Director General Sardar Shahadat Ali for comment on the issue. Around 10:00am he said he was in a meeting, and has not answered calls since then.
The last time BR hiked fares was in February 2016, by 7.23 percent.
Before that in October 2012, both passenger and freight train fares were raised by 50 percent to improve services and reduce railway losses, and that move came after 20 years.
BR operates 367 passenger trains and 42 freight trains daily on 3,554km of rail tracks.
