Railways has approved the operation of a new pair of trains named ‘Saikat-Probal’ Express on the Chittagong-Cox’s Bazar route. On Thursday (January 9), the Ministry of Railways officially approved the operation of two new trains named Probal Express and Saikat Express. It is reported that the two trains will start transporting passengers within the next week.

letter signed by Deputy Secretary of the Ministry of Railways Kamrul Hasan said that the two new pairs of trains on this route will have to be operated with the existing manpower of Bangladesh Railway. In light of Section 2(2.0) of the Bangladesh Railway’s Train Catering Service Recruitment and Management Policy-2020, the Marketing Branch of Bangladesh Railway has given temporary permission to provide catering services on the Chittagong-Cox’s Bazar-Chittagong route. However, instructions were given to take necessary measures to operate the catering service through open tender as soon as possible and to start the trains as soon as possible.
In this regard, Chief Operating Superintendent of Railway Eastern Region Md. Shahidul Islam told Morning Glory that after the construction of the Dohazari-Cox’s Bazar railway line, the demand for tickets on this route is very high. Although there were two direct trains from Dhaka, there was no permanent train from Chittagong. Since there was a temporary special train, we planned to run the train 4 times in both directions daily. In addition, by transforming it into an intercity train, the long-standing demand of the local community has been met. Although the number of loads is low for now, the services of passengers will be increased by increasing the number of coaches and services of the train considering the passenger demand in the future, he said.
According to railway sources, after the train was launched on the Chittagong-Cox’s Bazar route on December 1, 2023, 10 lakh 39 thousand 293 passengers have been transported till October this year. This much railway income is about 80 crore taka. Of this, 72 crore taka comes from three regular trains and the rest from special trains. Of this, the railway earned 2 crore 43 lakh 37 thousand 489 taka from these trains, known as Cox’s Bazar Special 9 and 10 trains, which carried One lakh 35 thousand 662 passengers.