Bangladesh Railway to operate special parcel trains from Friday

Bangladesh Railway will operate special parcel trains on three routes from Friday, aiming to ensure smooth supply of agricultural goods, vegetables, food, and perishable goods during the crisis created over coronavirus pandemic, reports UNB.

Three pairs of trains will run on Dhaka-Chattogram-Dhaka, Dhaka-Dewanganj-Dhaka and Khulna-Dhaka-Khulna routes from 1 May, said a press release from the ministry.

The special parcel train of Dhaka-Chattogtam-Dhaka route will leave Chattogram at 10:30am everyday and reach Dhaka at 8:30pm while another train of Dhaka-Dewanganj-Dhaka route will leave Dewanganj at 7:00pm and reach Dhaka at 3:15am.

Another special parcel train will leave Khulna on 4:45pm and reach Dhaka at 3:30am on Friday, Sunday and Tuesday, the release said.

On 24 March, the government suspended all the passenger train services throughout the country in an effort to prevent the spread of coronavirus.

Freight train service between Dhaka and Chattogram also remained suspended from 29 March as there was no space at the Inland Container Depot (ICD) in Dhaka for keeping containers.

Bangladesh Railway counts a loss of Tk 40-50 million in revenue every day following the suspension of all train services across the country due to the coronavirus outbreak.