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Published : 15 Aug 2024, 10:00 AM
Inter-city trains across Bangladesh have resumed service on Thursday after a three-week closure during the nationwide violence around the quota reform protests.
According to the Bangladesh Railway, not all inter-city trains are running at the moment, but they will from Friday.
The first train will leave Dhaka after 1pm, said Kamalapur Station Md Anowar Hossain on Monday morning.
“The Mohanganj Express train will be the first to depart from here around 1pm. The trains that depart in the morning don’t set off from Dhaka, but other stations outside it. Inter-city trains from Chattogram or other stations set off in the morning. The trains from Dhaka will set off in the afternoon or tomorrow morning. All trains will run according to the set schedule from tomorrow.”
Freight trains resumed service on Monday and local and commuter trains began running on Tuesday. Online tickets for inter-city trains became available from 5pm on Monday.
Train service was brought to a halt for three weeks from Jul 18 due to the violence that erupted around the quota reform movement as demonstrations by students and job seekers intensified into a mass movement against the Awami League government. Violence spread across the country as students and the public clashed with police and activists of the ruling party.
Protesters blocked railways at Dhaka, Gazipur, Chattogram, Feni, Mymensingh and Rangpur on Jul 16 amid the quota reform movement. It disrupted the train service for a few hours.
Train service returned to normal the following day, but it was brought to a halt on Jul 18 during the ‘complete shutdown’ programme called by the student protesters.
Protesters set fire to the rail tracks at Mohakhali on that day. Rail tracks on the Tongi-Bhairab route were pulled up at Narsingdi. Rail tracks were also blocked in other parts of the country.
After a stoppage of 13 days, short-distance trains began running on Aug 1. But it came to a complete halt again on Saturday, Aug 3.
