After the Cox’s Bazar Express, the second train ‘Parjatak Express’ has been launched on the Dhaka-Cox’s Bazar route. This time, considering the demand of passengers, the commuter train is also being launched on the Cox’s Bazar-Chittagong route in February. Two commuter trains will ply daily on this newly-constructed railway, the authorities said.
On November 11, 2023, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurated the newly-constructed Dohazari-Cox’s Bazar railway and the iconic railway station. Then on December 1, the first train ‘Cox’s Bazar Express’ was commercially run on the Dhaka-Cox’s Bazar route. As Cox’s Bazar is a tourist city, the demand of passengers on the Dhaka-Cox’s Bazar route increases several times. So after a month on January 10, another train ‘Tourist Express’ was added to this route.
Master of Cox’s Bazar Iconic Station. Golam Rabbani said that the tourist express leaves from Kamalapur railway station in Dhaka at 6:30 am. And the train reaches Cox’s Bazar at 3:25 PM. Considering passenger demand, two commercial trains ‘Tourist Express’ and Cox’s Bazar will run regularly on the Dhaka-Cox’s Bazar route.
The tourist express train has a passenger capacity of 785 people. It has 16 compartments including food compartments. The train will depart from Cox’s Bazar for Dhaka with the same number of passengers at 8:30 pm. And the train will stop every Sunday.
Md. Gholam Rabbani said that the fare for the passengers of the newly launched ‘Tourist Express’ has been set as the same as that of the ‘Cox’s Bazar Express’. In this, the non-AC class ‘Shovan Chair’ seat fare from Dhaka to Cox’s Bazar is Tk 695 and the AC class ‘Snigdha’ seat fare is Tk 1,325 including VAT. The same fare has been fixed from Dhaka Airport station as well.
Cox’s Bazar Express and Tourist Express leave Cox’s Bazar for Dhaka 6 days a week, morning and night. And two trains are returning to Cox’s Bazar with passengers again in the morning and afternoon. However, the passengers are not satisfied with the services of the two trains. They say that the train is equal to the service of the plane.
Rokeya Begum, a passenger from Dhaka, said that she came to Cox’s Bazar from Dhaka by AC class Snigdha seat. The facilities that I got in the train seemed to be the same as in the plane.
Riazul Karim, another passenger from Dhaka, said that we live in Dhaka city. Nature’s incredible beauty is not always visible. But I enjoyed the beauty of nature on both sides by riding the tourist express. It seemed that the road would never end. I really like riding this train.
Another passenger, Sifat Haider, said that it takes 12 to 14 hours by bus to reach Cox’s Bazar from Dhaka. There is a lot of suffering on the way. But I didn’t have to suffer in the train, I reached Cox’s Bazar in just 8 hours. And the facilities inside the train seemed world class to me.
A 101 km railway has been built from Chittagong’s Dohazari to Cox’s Bazar. Which was inaugurated by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on November 11 last year. Although direct trains started on Dhaka-Cox’s Bazar route on December 1, train movement on Cox’s Bazar-Chittagong route has not started yet. Therefore, the people of Cox’s Bazar demand to start trains on the Cox’s Bazar-Chittagong route as soon as possible.
Arafatul Islam said, Dohazari-Cox’s Bazar new railway has been built but it has not benefited the people of this area yet. Our demand is to provide a new train for the Cox’s Bazar-Chittagong route.
Huamun Sikdar said, I am waiting, when the train will start running on Cox’s Bazar-Chittagong route. And if the train starts on this railway, the fare will be lower.
However, considering the needs of the passengers, the commuter train is also being started on the Cox’s Bazar-Chittagong route from next month, said Iconic Railway Station Master Md. Golam Rabbani
He said that there is a demand of the locals to start train movement on Cox’s Bazar-Chittagong route. In that case, the railway authorities are likely to start commuter trains on this route next month. As a result, the needs of local passengers will be met. From Cox’s Bazar you can go to Chittagong via various stations including Ramu, Eidgaon, Dulhazara, Chakria, Harbang, Dohazari and Cox’s Bazar. The commuter train will run twice daily.
Incidentally, 3 thousand 130 passengers are traveling by two trains daily on the Dhaka-Cox’s Bazar route.
News Source: Somoy News TV
