Start Dhaka-Tangail train service

Townspeople yesterday observed a token hunger strike, demanding start of Dhaka-Tangail direct train service immediately.

They also held a rally in the town in this regard. Tangail Babosayee Oikya Jote organised the programme.

The speakers at the rally said people in the district for the last one year have been continuing their agitation for direct train service with the capital as they face untold sufferings to travel only 100 kilometres due to inadequate bus service and regular traffic congestion on Dhaka-Tangail highway.

Hundreds of people of different professions travel to the capital for their purposes, including jobs and businesses, every day, they said.

A direct train service, which will start from Tangail for Dhaka at 6:30am, and from Dhaka for Tangail at 6:30pm, is needed urgently, said the speakers.

Local people sold their lands to the railway at half the market prices for construction of train tracks through the Bangabandhu Multipurpose Bridge, said Abul Kalam Mostofa Labu, president of Tangail Babosayee Oikya Jote.

Though 12 to 14 trains ply the route, only few of them stop for a few minutes at Tangail Rail Station with only 120 seats for several thousand passengers, he said.

On June 30 in 2012, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at a public meeting in Tangail promised that Dhaka-Tangail commuter train service would be introduced, said committee convener and also a former joint secretary of the government Sayeed Mohammad Lutfullah.

Deputy Commissioner Khan Mohammad Nurul Amin said the district administration had sent several letters to the railway ministry over the demand of the district people and also talked to the minister when he visited Tangail recently.