Shawdesh desk;

Bangladesh authorities are going to increase cost of travel on long route trains from May 4.

The cost will be increased as the Bangladesh Railway is going to cancel the rebate on fares for travel based on distances.

Bangladesh Railway announced the cancellation in an advertisement published on a national daily on Monday.

The release said that Bangladesh Railway had been giving the distance and section-based rebate since 1992.

The section-based rebate was cancelled in 2012, it continued.

Most recently, Bangladesh Railway has decided to cancel the distance-based rebate, and the decision will come into effect on May 4, it added.

The railway director general, Sardar Shahadat Ali, could not be reached for comment.

A senior railway official confirmed the content of the BR advertisement published on the newspaper.

As per the officials, the railway currently gives a 20 to 30 per cent rebate on the fares for travel over 100km.

So, the fares on the short distances under 100 kilometres – like Dhaka-Narayanganj and Dhaka-Joydevpur – will not be increased.

The railway took the initiative to reduce the deficiency between its earnings and expenditures.

It also observed that if the rebate could be cancelled, then the railway’s earnings would increase by Tk 300 crore annually.

The railway sent the proposal to the prime minister Sheikh Hasina’s office on February 13 and as per the railway officials, the PM gave her approval on March 2.

The railways minister, Md Zillul Hakim, however, on March 18 said that they had no plan to increase rail fare for then.

In February 2016, the government increased train fares by 7.23 per cent on an average and in October 2012 the fare was increased by 50 per cent to 115 per cent promising improved services.