All trains from Dhaka to be suspended from midnight

Bangladesh Railway (BR) has issued a circular suspending all trains to and from Dhaka starting from 12:01am tomorrow. This suspension will remain in force till June 30, Sardar Shahadat Ali, additional director general (operations) of BR has said.

However, passenger train operation between other districts or cities, where no lockdown has been imposed, will continue as usual, he told The Daily Star.

Passenger trains will operate only on four routes, a BR official said. They are: Chattogram - Sylhet, Chattogram - Mymensingh, Chattogram-Chandpur and Abdulpur of Natore- Chilahati of Nilphamari, the official said.

Earlier in the day, BR suspended operation of five trains starting today after the government imposed movement restrictions on seven districts near Dhaka for nine days from yesterday.

The five trains are: Joydebpur-bound Turag Express; Kaliakoir Express, which operates between Dhaka and Kaliakoir Hi-tech Park; Tungipara Express, which operates between Gopalganj and Rajshahi; Nakshikatha Express, which operates between Rajbari and Khulna; and Rajbari Express, which operates between Rajbari and Bhanga.

Railway has cancelled all stoppages of intercity trains in Gazipur, one of the seven districts where lockdown has been imposed, a press release said.

All Khulna-bound trains will go up to Jashore, as the local authority imposed lockdown in Khulna district from today.

According to the Cabinet Division's circular yesterday, the districts put under movement restrictions around the capital are: Manikganj, Narayanganj, Munshiganj, Gazipur, Madaripur, Rajbari, and Gopalganj.

Meanwhile, operation of all passenger launches remained suspended from 6:00am today, following the directive of higher authorities, Zainal Abedin, joint director of Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority, said.

He said higher authorities preliminarily suspended the launch movement on several routes where the government imposed restrictions on public movement.

But later last night, service of all passenger launches were suspended across the country.

Replying to a question, he said some passengers, unaware of restrictions, had come to Dhaka's Sadarghat Launch Terminal but left after being aware of the situation, he added.