People in Bangladesh’s south-west who need to travel to Dhaka for urgent office work, medical treatment or business face no end of hardship. Because train timetables do not match working hours, a day’s work in the capital often takes two days, with extra spending on travel, lodging and food. People in Jashore, Benapole, Darshana, Kotchandpur, Kaliganj and nearby areas have long wanted a morning train to Dhaka, so they can finish their business in the capital and return the same day.
To that end, the Greater Jashore Rail Communication Development Struggle Committee has made six demands, including the launch of a Prabhati Express on the Benapole-Jashore-Dhaka and Darshana-Jashore-Dhaka routes under the Padma Bridge rail project.
The demands were made on Tuesday (27 October) in a memorandum to the railways minister, submitted through the deputy commissioner of Jashore. It was signed by the committee’s convener Kawsar Ali and member secretary Engineer Ruhul Amin.
The memorandum says the Padma Bridge rail link has opened up the prospect of fast, safe and affordable rail travel for people in the south-west. But the timetable of the trains now running on the Benapole-Jashore-Dhaka route does not let passengers go to the capital, finish their work and come back the same day. As a result, office workers, traders, patients and their relatives face extra pressure on both their time and their money.
Travel time and cost are a particular worry for patients going to Dhaka for treatment, it says. Hardship is also growing for people travelling to the capital for work at government and private offices, business dealings or emergencies, because no train runs at a suitable time. The committee also says people in Darshana, Kotchandpur and Kaliganj are deprived of adequate access to Dhaka by the Padma Bridge rail line.
According to the committee, if a morning Prabhati Express to Dhaka is introduced while keeping the current timetable, passengers will be able to finish a day’s work and return home. This would save working hours and money and reduce the need for overnight stays. It would also speed up communication for the Benapole land port and for people in the Jashore, Jhenaidah and Kushtia regions, and make travel to Dhaka easier.
The committee’s six demands include:
- launching a Prabhati Express on the Benapole-Jashore-Dhaka and Darshana-Jashore-Dhaka routes while keeping the current timetable;
- setting timetables that let people commute daily to offices in Dhaka and Khulna;
- adding general-class carriages to intercity trains, along with carriages suited to goods and farm produce;
- keeping ordinary train fares lower than bus fares;
- introducing a way to buy tickets other than online registration, and priority tickets for senior citizens;
- completing the double rail line from Darshana to Khulna quickly.
The memorandum also says that carriages for flowers, fruit, vegetables, fish and other farm produce would help farmers and traders get their goods to market more easily. General-class carriages and affordable fares would let people on low incomes travel by rail. An alternative to online ticketing was sought so that passengers who struggle with the internet or online registration can still buy tickets easily.
The committee said it had earlier submitted memorandums to the railway adviser and the railway secretary and sought meetings with them to present its case.
The committee called on the authorities to carry out the six demands as a priority, to ease the south-west’s long-standing transport problems, cut travel costs and let people complete their work in the capital in a single day.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report