Trains Struggle to Find Passengers after Lockdown

As Bangladesh began to unlock, rail services were allowed to resume after a two-month hiatus of 50 percent seating capacity in an effort to maintain safe distance standards amid the coronavirus epidemic.

A month after start of operations, trains are struggling to attract passengers, with almost 70% of seats empty, according to some railway officials.

The number of empty seats has only risen in conjunction with the rise in coronavirus infections and deaths throughout the country, they said.

In regular conditions, the total daily load of travelers is more than 200,000, but the figure has now fallen to around 17,000, notes the media.

Currently, 17 pairs of trains run at half capacity. Nearly 40% of the seats available sit unfilled during planned trips.

In view of the current situation, Railway Minister Nurul Islam Shujon has scrapped proposals to raise the number of trains in the country.

"Railway passengers are constantly decreasing. While there were plans to raise the number of trains in July, that isn't possible now," Shujon told bdnews24.com on Monday.

The minister attributed the decline in passengers to the worsening coronavirus epidemic, which has inflicted losses of about Tk 3.0 billion on the railway sector, according to him.

Railway authorities, however, cautioned that losses will begin to escalate in the midst of poor passenger attendance. But the trend can be reversed if ticket counters are re-opened along with commuter trains and major stops such as the Airport Station.

"But it won't be possible to reduce the losses by taking these steps right now. Trains will continue to operate as they are currently," said Shujon.

He added that there are no plans to run new trains before Eid-ul-Azha.

Railway authorities, however, cautioned that losses will begin to escalate in the midst of poor passenger attendance. But the trend can be reversed if ticket counters are re-opened along with commuter trains and major stops such as the Airport Station.

"Currently, 17 pairs of inter-city trains are in operation. In the beginning, the trains were running at full capacity but the response from passengers has since dwindled. On some days, trains on certain routes are filling all available seats while at other times, they are going mostly empty," said Md Mia Jahan, additional director general (operation) of Bangladesh Railway.

"In the last 15 days, about 60 to 70 percent of tickets have been sold while the rest of the seats went empty," he added.

Due to the shortage of passengers, the 'Sonar Bangla' on the Dhaka-Chittagong route and the 'Upakul Express' on the Dhaka-Noakhali route have been suspended since June 20.

The novel coronavirus infection has affected at least 165,000 people in Bangladesh and left more than 2,000 dead. However, most of the COVID-19 cases in the country were detected between 1 June and 1 July.

At the beginning of June, the railway authorities issued restrictions and warnings to cope with the pressure of passengers. A month later, it appears that little has been done to allay the fears of passengers.