Bangladesh Railway (BR) is set to suspend two inter-city train services on Dhaka-Chattogram and Dhaka-Noakhali route from Saturday for not getting adequate passengers amid coronavirus pandemic.
The service of Sonar Bangla Express and Noakhali Upokul Express was resumed after the government relaxed lockdown on the public transport movements from May 31.
Officials said decision to suspend Sonar Bangla Express has been taken as another train Subarna Express on Dhaka-Chattogram route is now in operation.
But the service of Noakhali Upokul Express will be stopped as Noakhali has been locked down after the government declared the district as red zone area.
The officials said following the announcement, the service of Noakhali Upokul has been operating till Laksam for the last five days.
Since the resumption of eight intercity trains on May 31 and 11 more on June 3, the BR has not been getting adequate passengers to operate many train services.
According to BR's record, the initial ticket sale rate of 90 per cent dropped to 40-45 per cent during the last two weeks.
Against 24,054 seats of 38 trains, BR could sell only 11,144 tickets on June 8 followed by 127,71; 12,544; 12,704; 10,145 and 11,255 tickets on the following dates.
The General Manager of BR Western zone said the decision to suspend the two inter city services was taken temporarily to overview the ongoing situation of COVID 19 .
