Finally the long wait is coming to an end. Passenger trains will run from Dhaka to tourist city Cox’s Bazar from December 1. Passengers will not have to change trains or cars in between. A trial run of the train on the Chittagong-Cox’s Bazar route took place on Sunday. A train of 8 coaches with a locomotive left Chittagong railway station at 9:20 am. The train reaches Dohazari railway station in Chandanish upazila at 10 am. From there it touches the iconic station set up in the beach town at 6:25 PM. Hundreds of enthusiastic people waved and greeted the test train at various stations and on both sides of the railway line. Seeing the dream train in Cox’s Bazar, thousands of visitors burst into excitement.
Minister of Railways. Nurul Islam Sujan told Jugantar that the entire country’s rail network is being connected with the tourist city of Cox’s Bazar. Modern trains will run on that route. Foreign tourists will also increase along with ordinary passengers. Direct trains will go to Cox’s Bazar from East-West-North region. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will inaugurate the new railway on November 11. There is no alternative to Sheikh Hasina to maintain the development of railways. The revolution in railway development will take place with his hands.
The concerned officials said that it is mandatory to do a trial run of the train before officially running the railway. Defects in the rail line in the trial run, if there is a mistake in the pavement, it is easily detected. Locomaster Mohammad Mahfuzur Rahman and Assistant Locomaster Rukon Mia drove this train for the first trial run. The train was attended by several guards, railway police, members of the Railway Security Force (RNB), railway staff related to the railway track, top officials of engineering, commercial and transport departments.
Rahul Quader Azad, the officer of the Railway Inspection Department and head of the inspection team, said that the report will be given after the inspection. After that the official train movement will start.
Earlier on Saturday, as the renovation work of Kalurghat Bridge was completed, the expert team of BUET observed the trial run on the bridge. The 92-year-old Kalurghat bridge over the Karnaphuli river has been renovated and made fully train-ready. As a result, trains will be able to run through this bridge for the next 25 to 30 years.
ABM Fazle Karim Chowdhury, President of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Railway Ministry, told Jugantar that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has a special eye on railways. In his own opinion, a radical change is coming in the development of railways. I have been the President of the Parliamentary Standing Committee for 10 years. The ongoing and 30-year master plan of the railways will be a world-class railway if implemented. All districts will be connected by rail. After Cox’s Bazar, new railways will be laid at Rangamati and Kaptai. New tracks, engines, coaches are all state-of-the-art – the touch of aircraft on rail.
Eastern Railway General Manager. Nazmul Islam told Jugantar that all preparations have been completed to run the new train on the Dohazari-Cox’s Bazar route. Before the inauguration on November 11, a full passenger train will be kept ready in the area of Cox’s Bazar railway station. The new railway will be inaugurated with the modern train. Immediately after the inauguration, the train will leave Cox’s Bazar railway station via Chittagong station and come straight to Dhaka Kamalapur railway station. Commercial passenger trains will run from Dhaka to Cox’s Bazar on December 1 through the inauguration of the new line on that day.
Those concerned said that the 150 km railway project from Chittagong to Cox’s Bazar was implemented at a cost of 18 thousand 34 crores 47 lakhs. Chinese contractor China Railway Engineering Corporation (CREC) and Tama Construction Company of Bangladesh and China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC) and Mass Infrastructure Limited of Bangladesh have done the work in two separate parts.
Dhaka-Cox’s Bazar Train Fare Fixing: Although there are two trains proposed to run on the Dhaka-Cox’s Bazar route, initially one inter-city train will run daily from Dhaka. One train a day departs from Dhaka at 10:30 pm and stops at the airport and Chittagong station to reach Cox’s Bazar at 6:40 am. It will depart from Cox’s Bazar at 1 PM and return to Dhaka at 9:10 PM. The train will have a weekend on Tuesday. The number of seats during the journey from Dhaka will be 797. There will be 737 seats on the return journey. Dhaka-Cox’s Bazar minimum 515, maximum fare 2036 Tk. In this way, 515 taka for decorative chair and 984 taka for AC seat, rent for AC seat will be 1 thousand 132 taka including 15 percent VAT. 1 thousand 363 for AC cabin and 2 thousand 36 for AC berth including VAT.
Cheers in Cox’s Bazar: Thousands of visitors burst into cheers when the inspection train arrived at Cox’s Bazar’s iconic railway station at 6:25 pm on Sunday.
Tarek Arman, a resident of the Power House area adjacent to Iconic Station, said that the men and women of the area came to the platform in groups and waited for the news that the train would arrive at around 2 pm. But as the train did not come even in the evening, some went back home. However, many people wait for 10 hours to see the dream train.
Jhelongja Union Parishad UP member Mizan Sikdar said, “We are happy.” Dream train has arrived in Cox’s Bazar. People did not show tiredness even after waiting for 10 hours. The crowd cheered when the train arrived at Cox’s Bazar at 6:25 PM.
