Trains to carry passengers at full capacity from tomorrow

Bangladesh Railway (BR) will resume carrying passengers at full capacity from tomorrow around three-and-a-half-months after the authority started operating passenger trains on a limited scale following the shutdown over the coronavirus pandemic.

Half of the total available tickets will be sold at stations and the rest will be available online and on mobile apps.

The Railways ministry took the decision at a meeting today with Railways Minister Nurul Islam Sujan in the chair, Shariful Alam, senior information officer of the ministry told The Daily Star. All health safety guidelines will be followed, he added.

The decision came after the authority started selling half of the tickets of intercity trains at rail stations from September 12.

After resumption of train services from May 31 on a limited scale, Bangladesh Railway has been selling all tickets of intercity trains through online and mobile app.

Although authorities have started selling all tickets of local, mail and commuter trains at stations from September 5, they started selling 50 percent tickets of the intercity trains from the counters from September 12.

BR is gradually increasing the number of trains in its fleet in a bid to normalise services. A total of 218 trains will come into operation by September 16. The remaining 144 mail and local trains will resume operation gradually.