Tarique’s homecoming: Special trains to operate on 10 routes, three services cancelled

Railway authorities have expressed regret to passengers over the temporary inconvenience on the three routes

Bangladesh Railway will operate special trains on 10 routes to mark the homecoming of Tarique Rahman in response to an application by the BNP.

To facilitate this, three short-distance train services have been cancelled.

The railway said in a media statement on Monday that the Rajbari Commuter (Rajbari–Poradah), Dhalarchar Express (Pabna–Rajshahi), and Rohanpur Commuter (Rohanpur–Rajshahi) will have their services suspended for one day on Dec 25.

The authorities have apologised to the passengers of these three routes for the temporary disruption.

Rezaul Karim Siddiqui, senior information officer of the railways ministry, told bdnews24.com that the special trains are being provided after considering applications from the BNP’s central and grassroots levels.

Additional carriages will be attached to regular trains, he added.

On Thursday, BNP Senior Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi sent a letter to the ministry seeking permission to reserve special trains with extra coaches starting from the night of Dec 24.

On this matter, a media statement said the BNP will pay the specified fares in accordance with government policy. This is expected to generate Tk 3.6 million in revenue.

As a condition for travel on these special trains, the railways ministry said: "Additional coaches will be attached to several regular trains based on demand. Instructions have been issued to comply with the Electoral Code of Conduct 2025 as a condition for the travel of party activists on the estimated special trains and additional coaches provided by the railway."

Routes where special trains will operate are Cox’s Bazar–Dhaka–Cox’s Bazar, Jamalpur–Mymensingh–Dhaka–Jamalpur, Tangail–Dhaka–Tangail, Bhairab Bazar–Narsingdi–Dhaka–Narsingdi–Bhairab Bazar, Joydebpur–Dhaka Cantonment–Joydebpur (Gazipur), Panchagarh–Dhaka–Panchagarh, Khulna–Dhaka–Khulna, Chatmohar–Dhaka Cantonment–Chatmohar, Rajshahi–Dhaka–Rajshahi, and Jashore–Dhaka–Jashore.