Bangladesh Railway will start selling advance train tickets on April 23 on the occasion of Eid-ul-Fitr. Advance train tickets of April 27 will be available on April 23, Additional Director General (Operation) of Bangladesh Railway Sardar Shahadat told UNB. The advance tickets of April 28, 29, 30 and May 1 will be available on April 24, 25, 26 and 27 respectively. Also read: No launch ticket without NID cards during Eid: Khalid Besides, the selling of return tickets will begin from the second day of Eid-ul-Fitr, he said. Details about the selling of advance train tickets will be known after a meeting on April 13. Also read: Online train ticket sale to resume from 6 pm Friday for March 26

Trains will run with full passenger capacity from Wednesday (February 9) as the authorities decided to relax the Cobid-19 curbs amid declining infection. The railways ministry took the decision following the fall in infection rate of Covid-19, said press release issued on Monday. According to the notice, the government has strengthened the vaccination programme and the people are travelling to many places after taking Covid jabs, which increases the pressure of passengers. So it is needed to fulfil the demand of the passengers to roll down the wheel of the economy. Also read: Trains to operate with 50% passengers from Jan 15 The ministry also reminded the train passengers to strictly maintain Covid-19 health guidelines such as wearing mask and use of sanitizer.  Trains were ordered to run at half the capacity on January 15 amid a surge in the pandemic, especially the spread of the Omicron variant of the virus. Also read: No decision yet over operating trains with 50% passengers: Minister

The government has taken a project to bring three districts of the Chattogram Hill Tracts (CHT) -- Rangamati, Khagrachhari and Bandarban -- under the railway network for making life in the remote hilly region easier. Initially, officials said, Rangamati will be connected with the railway network and Bangladesh Railway has already started work on setting up a 42-km rail track in the district which is expected to end by 2026. General Manager (Eastern Zone) of Bangladesh Railway Md Jahangir Hossain said Bangladesh Railway will construct the 42-km rail link from Raozan upazila to Rangunia via Kaptai involving Tk 8.926 crore. Read: Dual gauge railway from Bogura to Sirajganj under LoC soon He said the Economic Relations Division (ERD) has contacted the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jaica) seeking a loan amounting to Tk 7,141 crore for the much-needed project. Recently, Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on the Railways Ministry and Chattogram-6 constituency MP ABM Fazle Karim Chowdhury said Rangamati will be brought under the country’s railway network. “The government has taken the project to ease transportation of goods produced in Rangamati to Chattogram city and other parts of the country, and ensure train services for tourists,” he said while speaking at a programme at Kumira in Sitakunda upazila. The government also has a plan to connect Khagrachchari and Bandarban districts with the country’s railway network, he said. “The government has planned to establish 55 new railway stations across the country and 26 of these will be set up in the eastern region. Besides, train service will be launched from Nazirhat to Ramgarh Land port,” he added. Railways Minister Md Nurul Islam Sujon at a programme in Dhaka recently said the government has taken a project titled “Janalihat-Cuet-Kaptai Dual gauge Rail Tracks” and a preliminary development project proforma/proposal (PDPP) has been prepared.

A special “cattle train” left here on Saturday carrying 77  cows and six goats in its inaugural service for markets in the capital city ahead of Eid-ul-Azha, officials said. The special service will run on Chapainawabganj-Rajshahi-Tejgaon (Dhaka) route. Also read: Special cattle trains ahead of Eid-ul-Azha Lawmaker from Chapainawabganj-1 Dr Shamil Uddin Ahmed Shamil inaugurated the train service at Chapainawabganj railway station this afternoon. The cattle wagons – each with 20 cows - will be added to the Mango special train, already operating on the route. Assistant station Master Obaidullah at Chapainawabganj said the Railways ministry has decided to run the special cattle service considering the health hazards of ongoing Covid-19. Also read: PM launches special mango train on Chapainawabganj-Dhaka route Transportation cost for each cow has been fixed at Tk 592 and for goat at Tk 292. The train service will continue until July 19, he added.

The Railways Ministry has decided to run special cattle trains for ferrying sacrificial animals ahead of Eid-ul-Azha amid a worsening Covid-19 situation in the country. Shoriful Alam, senior information officer of the Ministry, told UNB on Tuesday that Bangladesh Railways will operate the trains from July 17-19. "Their numbers will vary everyday, depending on the demand of the traders." Read:1.5 lac cattle ready for slaughter in Chapainawabganj, but will Covid-19 stand in the way? Initially the trains will run from Dewan Bazar of Jamalpur to Kamalapur railway station in Dhaka. Besides, the ministry has also made necessary arrangements to transport animals from Khulna and Chapainawabganj. "If cattle traders are interested, special trains will be run on these routes too,” said Shoriful. Eid ul Azha is expected to be celebrated in around a fortnight's time in Bangladesh, depending on the sighting of the moon.  Read: No cattle from outside country ahead of Eid-ul-Azha: Livestock Minister The country is currently in the middle of a strict lockdown due to Covid-19. But many frontier districts have been in lockdown since the last week of May, when cases started shooting up after the Delta variant of the virus, then known as the Indian variant, was detected in many patients. In this situation, cattle farmers may face some extra bottlenecks in transporting the animals  to different parts of the country. So, the decision to operate a special train might come as a great relief to many of them.

Authorities have suspended train services on several routes from Tuesday as strict restrictions have been enforced in some districts to stem the spread of coronavirus. According to a notice issued by the Railways Ministry, two train services in Gazipur-Turag Express and Kaliakair Commuter Train were suspended from 6 am on Tuesday for nine days. Read:Suspension of long-haul bus services makes people’s journeys arduous No inter-city train will stop in Gazipur during the period. Besides, services of Tungipara Express train on Gopalganj-Rajshahi route , Nakshikatha Express on Khulna-Rajbari route, and Rajbari Express train on Rajbari-Bhanga-Rajbari route have been suspended. Read:Passenger vessel movement suspended in 7 districts All Khulna-bound passenger trains have been asked to halt operation at Jashore stoppage. The suspension of services will remain in force until June 30 or the lockdown period announced for some districts.

Railways Minister Md Nurul Islam Sujan on Wednesday said the construction of a railway-cum-road bridge over the Karnaphuli River at Kalurghat in Chattogram will begin early next year.

Bangladesh Railway started its full-fledged passenger train services on Wednesday, three and half months after limited operations of trains due to coronavirus pandemic.

The government has decided to make train tickets non-transferable to prevent the sale of tickets on the black market, the Railways Ministry announced Thursday.

The government has taken a huge development programme in the new fiscal to upgrade the railway communication of the country considering the public-friendly role of railways as a cheap and safe mode of communication across the country.