BR is taking prepartion  ahead of Eid

The Bangladesh Railway has been overhauling several inoperative coaches to enhance its capacity to cope with excessive rush of passengers ahead of Eid.

As many as 169 additional coaches are going to be incorporated in the service during the Eid rush across the country, according to officials.

In Dhaka, five additional trains will be added to the existing fleet of 64 trains that run every day. The additional trains will be operative on July 15-17 and July 20-26.

Of the existing 64 trains, 28 are intercity and the rest are local and mail trains. These have the capacity to carry around one lakh passengers daily.

The additional five trains will increase the capacity by 5,000 more passengers. But the total capacity is still very insufficient compared to the demand, the officials admit.

Outside Dhaka, two special trains will ply between Chittagong and Chandpur, one between Bhairab and Kishoreganj and another between Mymensingh and Kishoreganj.

A statement of the railway ministry claims around 1.8 lakh people travel by trains across the country every day. However, the railway's daily capacity will increase to around 2.5 lakh because of the additional arrangements, it adds.

The railway authorities will start selling advance tickets on July 9. Advance tickets of July 13-17 will be sold on July 9-13 correspondingly.

Tickets will be sold at Kamalapur Rail Station in Dhaka and Chittagong Station. One can buy maximum four tickets.

Similarly, return tickets of July 20-24 will be sold on July 16-20 at Rajshahi, Khulna, Rangpur, Dinajpur and Lalmonirhat.

Speaking anonymously, an official told The Daily Star that many coaches had become outdated and inactive while travelling round the year. These coaches were sent to two workshops -- one in Pahartali of Chittagong and another in Syedpur of Nilphamari.

Ahead of Eid, these coaches were taken back in operation after renovation, the official added.

Carriage and Wagon Repair Workshop of Bangladesh Railway's East Zone, located at Pahartali, have been abuzz with repair and renovation works of old and damaged coaches, reports our Chittagong correspondent.

Workers of the workshop are passing busy time with repair and renovation of the coaches. Although per day outturn of carriages from the workshop is one, they are now making ready about two coaches daily.

During a visit to the workshop, worker Nurul Islam said they were doing extra job to repair the old and damaged coaches.

Around 48 coaches have already been ready for service and the rest around 40 coaches would be fit by July 14.