Railway west zone to transport sacrificial animals to Dhaka

The West Zone of Bangladesh Railway will operate two pairs of trains to carry sacrificial animals to Dhaka from both northern and southern zones ahead of the Eid-ul-Azha.

One pair of the cattle special train will be running on Chapainawabganj-Dhaka-Chapainawabganj route via Rajshahi while the other on Khulna-Dhaka-Khulna route on the basis of demands of the cattle farmers and businessmen.

Fuad Hassan Ananda, divisional commercial manager of the zone, said 20 cattle can be transported to Dhaka in a broad gauge wagon at a cost of Tk10,810. Per kilometer fare for a wagon load cattle heads (20 cattle heads) has been fixed at Tk20.

The 343 kilometre long way from Rajshahi to Dhaka will cost Tk6,860 for a wagon load of cattle heads. In addition, Tk1,376 surcharge will be realised and Tk2,574 terminal fare will be charged totalling Tk10,810 for carrying 20 cattle heads from Rajshahi to Dhaka.

Fuad Hassan said they have already held several meetings with local cattle farm owners, cattle traders, upazila and district Animal Resource officials to transport cattle and buffalo through trains ahead of the Eid-ul-Azha.

He also said a decision has been taken to launch two sets of special cattle trains from Khulna and Chapainawabganj to Dhaka to encourage marginal cattle farm owners and to carry sacrificial animals easily and at a low cost to Dhaka based on the suggestion of the stakeholders.

The cattle train from Chapainawabganj will start at 4:00pm and with the stoppage at Amnura Bypass, Kakonhat, Rajshahi, Harian, Ullapara, Joydevpur, Dhirashram, Tongi and Tejgaon, the train will reach at Dhaka around 3:45am.

The other set of train will start from Khukan at 1:00 pm and with stoppage at Jessore, Mobarakganj, Kotchandpur, Chuadanga, Alamdanga, Poradaha, Ishurdi, Joydevpur, Dhirashram, Tongi and Tejgaon, the train will arrive in Dhaka at around 3:00am.

“We will launch the trains just after getting response from the cattle farmers and businessmen,” he added.