The closure of the two important inter-city trains of Sarishabari Upazila due to the threat of sabotage has announced. The closed trains are Intercity Agneebeena Express and Intercity Yamuna Express from Dhaka to Tarakandi. Thousands of people in this region have suffered greatly.
It is known that since 1987 the inter-city Agniveena Express from Dhaka to Tarakandi and the inter-city Yamuna Express train on the same route started service in 1988. These two trains are mixed in the history and tradition of Sarishabari. Besides, inter-city Jamalpur Express train with modern facilities was launched on 26 January 2020. Jamuna, Agnibina and Jamalpur Express are three intercity trains plying on the Dhaka-Sarishabari-Tarakandi route.
Agnibeena Express train comes from Dhaka's Kamalapur via Mymensingh, Jamalpur, Sarishabari to Tarakandi. Again in the evening it leaves Tarakandi for Dhaka, on the other hand at 4:45 pm Jamuna Express train arrives at Tarakandi via Sarishabari from Kamalapur on the same route. Later left at 2 am for Dhaka. Besides, the Jamalpur Express train started running as an intercity route between Dhaka-Jamalpur via Tarakandi-Bangabandhu Bridge East-Tangail, but later, due to the development of Bangabandhu Bridge East station, it moved to Dhaka via Tarakandi Jamalpur, Mymensingh.
Miscreants set fire to compartments A, B and C of the intercity Yamuna train from Dhaka to Tarakandi on the night of November 18 last year due to political sabotage. The fire service brought the fire under control after 2 hours of efforts. Later on Thursday, December 14, in a letter signed by Mohammad Abu Bakr Siddiqui, Assistant Chief Operating Superintendent of Eastern Railway, Jamuna Express (745/746) train Jamalpur-Tarakandi section has been suspended till further instructions for safe train operation in the ongoing adverse political situation. Again, the authorities stopped the Agnibina Express train from January 6 of this month. At present, 2 closed trains are running on Dhaka-Jamalpur-Dhaka section.
Meanwhile, thousands of passengers plying on the Sarishabari-Tarakandi route are in trouble due to the suspension of trains. They are forced to pay 2/3 times higher fare and go to the destination by other vehicles. Low income people have suffered the most.
Several passengers said that trains can travel at a lower fare than other vehicles.
Trains are basically the only mode of transportation for low income people. Therefore, due to the closure of these two important trains, common people and low-income people like us are in dire straits. As a safe travel we travel by train for less money. I demand that the government seriously consider the issue of our travel cost to start these 2 trains as soon as possible to reduce the cost.