Starting in July, residents of Chuadanga district will have direct train access to Dhaka, reducing travel time to just five hours. The Bangladesh Railway is resuming direct rail service on the Dhaka-Darshana route, this time via the Padma Bridge, a move anticipated to greatly benefit commuters. A media release from the Railway’s Western region announced that a pair of trains will run on this route. The first train will depart Darshana for Dhaka around 7 am, arriving at noon. It will then leave Dhaka at 1 pm, reaching Darshana by 4 pm. The second train will operate from 4:30 pm to 9:40 pm and from 11:55 pm to 5 am the following morning. In addition, three trains—Chitra, Benapole, and Sundarban Express—will operate from Jashore's Rupdia or Padmabila to Dhaka via Kushtia, Mobarakganj, and Kotchandpur through the Padma Bridge. Passengers disembarking from moving trains raises safety concerns Currently, Bangladesh Railway operates local, mail, commuter, and intercity trains. Fares range from Tk 0.39 per km for local trains to Tk 1.95 per km for air-conditioned intercity trains. Abdullah Al Mamun, a Dhaka-bound passenger at Chuadanga Rail Station, expressed optimism: “The train line is divided into two parts. If these two trains start, we will benefit from the passenger-tickets, and hopefully, we will get tickets on time. Besides, it will take less time to go to Dhaka.”

The Ministry of Railways has decided to operate 38 pairs of intercity and 20 commuter/freight trains from August 11 following the government’s announcement to ease the ongoing lockdown. The ministry in a circular on Sunday said it has decided to operate passenger trains on all of its routes with a few exceptions following health guidelines until further directive. The ministry, however, said intercity trains Ekta Express, Sundarban Express, Nilsagar Express and Rangpur Express will not operate from Dhaka on August 11, while Tongipara Express will not operate from Gobra. Read: Govt eases lockdown from Aug 11 with some guidelines to follow It said 50% tickets of intercity trains will be sold online and through mobile apps while the remaining 50% will be sold from Monday 8 am. In the case of any negligence in maintaining health rules while operating the trains, legal action will be taken against the authorities concerned, the ministry said. The movement of passenger trains has remained suspended across the country since July 23 after the government re-imposed the stringent lockdown amid a massive surge of Covid cases. Read: Lockdown or no lockdown, life is the same in Dhaka The passenger trains were allowed to move for eight days from July 15-22 across the country keeping 50% of the seats empty apparently to facilitate the movement of people ahead of Eid-ul-Azha. Meanwhile, the Cabinet Division issued a circular saying that the government has decided to allow all public transport to operate at full capacity across Bangladesh from August 11.

Thirteen pairs of passenger trains resumed operation from Sunday on different routes to make services more functional amid Covid-19 pandemic, said Railways Minister Md Nurul Islam Sujan.