After eight years, the Bangladesh Railway is going to increase the fares on long routes from May 4.
The cost will increase as the railway is going to cancel the rebates on fares.
The government last increased train fares by 7.23 per cent on an average in February 2016.
The state-run services, however, have remained largely unsatisfactory amid frequent derailment, insufficient trains, old infrastructure and disruption in schedules.
The Bangladesh Railway announced the cancellation in an advertisement published on a national daily on Monday.
The release said that the railway had been giving the distance and section-based rebate since 1992.
The section-based rebate was cancelled in 2012, it continued.
Most recently, the Bangladesh Railway has decided to cancel the distance-based rebate, too, and the decision will come into effect on May 4, it added.
Railway officials said that currently 20鈥�30 per cent rebate is given on the fares for travel over 100 kilometres.
Later on the day, railway director general Sardar Shahadat Ali told 抖阴精品 that fares on distances till 100km will not be increased.
鈥楾he fares will be increased if anyone travels more than 100km. The fares will be adjusted based on the distances,鈥� he said.聽聽
As the railway sells advance tickets 10 days before journeys, from April 24 the new fare rates will be implemented, he added.
The railways minister, Md Zillul Hakim, however, on March 18 said that they have no plan to increase the fares.
Quoting the minister, railways ministry public relations officer Iftekar Alam Rajan told 抖阴精品 that the minister is aware of the matter of cancellation of rebate from train fares.
Based on the decision, fares on the distances below 100km, such as Dhaka鈥揘arayanganj and Dhaka鈥揓oydevpur, will not be increased.
The railway took the initiative to reduce the gap between its earnings and expenditures.
It also observed that cancellation of the rebate would result in the increase of its revenue as much as by Tk 300 crore annually.
The railway sent the proposal to the prime minister Sheikh Hasina鈥檚 office on February 13, and as per the railway officials, the PM gave her approval on March 2.
In October 2012, the fares saw an increase by 50鈥�115 per cent with a promise of improved services.
Frequent incidents of derailments across the country remain a concern for the railway.聽
Huge demand for train tickets and its black marketing, especially during the festival times, is still a common scenario.
Currently, due to the heat wave the railway is running trains on different sections limiting their speed due to the risk of old tracks getting bent.