Bangladesh Railway allocates special trains for Jamaat rally

Bangladesh Railway has arranged three special trains to transport participants from Rajshahi and Sirajganj to Dhaka for Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami’s national rally at Suhrawardy Udyan on Saturday, 19 July.

West Zone Railway General Manager Farid Ahmed confirmed that the trains were allocated following payment of advance fares, service charges, and other dues. Since the trains will run on their weekly off day, regular train services will not be affected.

The Rajshahi-Dhaka special train will depart Rajshahi Railway Station at 1:00 am on Saturday and return from Dhaka’s Kamalapur Station at 8:15 pm the same day. The 14-coach train will use the weekly-off rake of the 755/756 Madhumati Express and has a total capacity of 1,179 seats, including 24 AC berths and the rest Shovon Chair class. On this day, the train will travel via the Jamuna Bridge instead of its usual Padma Bridge route, stopping at Rajshahi University, Horiyan, and Sardah Road stations.

Jamaat’s Rajshahi Assistant Secretary Md Shahadat Hossain said the party has completed all preparations, reserving one train and 70 buses from Rajshahi, with an expected turnout of 25,000 to 30,000 leaders and activists.

Another special train has been approved for the Sirajganj Bazar–Dhaka–Sirajganj Bazar route. The 775/776 Sirajganj Express rake will depart Sirajganj at 6:00 am and return from Dhaka at 11:55 pm. This train has 592 seats and will also travel via the Jamuna Rail Bridge.

Additionally, Bangladesh Railway has approved the proposal to operate a pair of special trains on the Mymensingh-Dhaka-Mymensingh route. These special trains will run subject to advance payment of fare, service charge, and other dues.

Bangladesh Railway stated that all special services will run only after the payment of applicable charges.