A few years ago, one of my friends narrated to me about his train journey in the United Kingdom. One day he was travelling from Plymouth to Preston. He reached Plymouth station around 15 minutes earlier and then he heard an announcement in the station that their train will be late by five minutes. It amazed him. Due to the late arrival of this train he failed to avail the connecting train for Birmingham. The official on duty from Railways (TT) came up to him and asked him where he would like to go. He did the same with all the passengers. He told him that a car would be ready for him there and drop him to Preston station. When he reached Preston it was almost midnight and he did not have to pay anything. Moreover, he did not see any passenger standing and found the toilets absolutely clean.
No such announcement is heard in Rajshahi station, except on a few occasions when the train is late for a longer period like an hour or so. It is difficult to believe that train will reach Dhaka on time with toilets cleaned properly. We always found water-logging in the toilets and it is risky for us when train reaches the Kamalapur station around 11 pm or later. Though it is not fully safe at other times as well, but moving out at midnight is totally unsafe for us. The train usually takes more than six hours from Rajshahi to Dhaka but it should not be more than a 3-4 hours' journey and with no passenger standing.
The government has raised the train fare twice which is difficult for low income people to afford. We shall urge upon the concerned authorities to introduce some compartments in this service with no seat numbers and relatively lower fair considering the condition of the marginalised people.
We request the government to introduce Dhaka-Rajshahi direct train service that takes only 3-4 hours with apartments for the marginalised people
Mawduda Hasnin
Rajshahi
[email protected]
- Sunday, 5 May 2024 |
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