The railway had said the mango special train would start carrying Chapainawabganj's mangoes from Saturday (20 May). But most of the district's mangoes are not yet mature, so traders have not been able to start buying and selling, and the train could not be launched despite the advance announcement.

People in the mango trade say Chapainawabganj's sweet mangoes have not reached the market yet. Some Gopalbhog mangoes have arrived, but in very small quantities, so the authorities cannot run the train without mangoes.

Shahidul Islam Mia, station master at Rohanpur railway station in Chapainawabganj, confirmed this to Jagonews24.

He said the mango market had not opened yet this year. The Rohanpur mango market will open on 21 May and the Sadar upazila market on 25 May, so the authorities will announce the mango special train schedule after 25 May.

Asked about losses and traders' lack of confidence, the station master said the railway had already run an extensive publicity campaign, and there would be wide local publicity once the schedule is finalised. As the mango special train has carried mangoes at Tk 1.31 per kg for the past two years, the fare will stay unchanged this year. Senior officials have said two trains with more wagons will run, and good revenue is expected from the service this year.

According to railway sources, the mango special train was first launched in Chapainawabganj on 5 June 2020. It ran for the second time from 27 May 2021 and carried mangoes until 16 July. Last year, although there were calls to launch it at the start of the season, the train was inaugurated at Rohanpur station on 13 June after the date was changed three times; earlier, 1 June and then 8 June had been announced as likely start dates.

Ismail Khan Shamim, general secretary of the Shibganj Mango Producer Co-operative Society, said Shibganj upazila produces the most mangoes in the district and is also home to the traditional Kansat mango market. But because there is no railway line in the upazila, its growers and traders cannot use the mango special train.

He added that Chapainawabganj's mangoes are not yet mature and will start reaching the market from the first week of June.

Md Shahidul Islam, a director of the Chapainawabganj Chamber of Commerce, told Jagonews24 that besides mangoes, lychees, other seasonal fruit and all kinds of farm produce can be taken to Dhaka cheaply on the special train. He said carrying mangoes from Chapainawabganj to Dhaka on the train costs "1 taka 31 taka". Sending a tonne of mangoes to Dhaka by courier costs Tk 20,000, while on the mango special train it costs only Tk 1,117. It is sad that the train has still not become popular, he said.

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.