Suborno Express

Suborno Express is an intercity train of Bangladesh Railway which runs between Dhaka and Chittagong. Suborno Express is considered one of the prestigious trains of Bangladesh Railway since it is the first luxurious non-stop train in the country still in operation. The train connects the capital and the largest city of the country, Dhaka to the second largest and port city of Chittagong of Bangladesh.

History

Suborno Express made its first inaugural run on 14 April 1998 with allocated train no. 701/702. It was introduced as a nonstop inter-city train that offers luxurious and fast service. Since inauguration, Suborno Express has always been the first train to get the new coaches imported by Bangladesh - as seen with the newly imported coaches from Wagon Pars of Iran in 1998, CRRC built coaches of China in 2006 and Sung Sing Rolling Stock Technology built coaches - imported in 2023. No standing tickets '' are available for this train - making it one of the few trains with all seating passengers in the Bangladesh Railway fleet. The train is popular among the urban middle-class and upper-class demographic of Bangldesh.

Schedule

The train departs Chattogram railway station at 7:30AM and arrives in Dhaka railway station at 12:20PM bearing the code 701.On the return trip, it departs Dhaka at 4:30PM and arrives in Chattogram railway station at 9:50PM bearing the code 702. This train runs six days a week, except for its off-day on Monday.

Coaches

The train currently runs with South Korean Sung Sing Rolling Stock Technology built coaches bearing Red-Green livery. The number of coaches varies. Sometimes the train pulls up to 22 coaches if there is compelling demand. The train has:

5 AC Chair Coaches
6 Non-AC Chair Coaches
3 AC Sleeper Coaches with seating facilities
1 Non-AC Sleeper Coach
2 Dining Cars at each end with attached guard brakes
1 Generator Car with praying room facilities.

Prior to introducing the South Korean coaches, Chinese built coaches imported from CRRC in 2006 were used. Even before that the train ran with air-brake coaches built by Wagon Pars - imported from Iran in 1998. Later, due to maintenance problems, Iranian air-brake coaches were replaced with newly imported Chinese coaches in 2007.

Locomotive

Suborno Express is hauled by Bangladesh Railway Class 3000 locomotives of Bangladesh Railway. However, due to the unreliable nature of these locomotives - it is not impossible - however rare - to see Suborno Express to be hauled by older Bangladesh Railway Class 2900 locomotives.

Passenger interest

Passengers usually prefer traveling aboard Suborno Express for its non-stop service. Also the train has more AC carriages than any other trains that run between Dhaka and Chittagong.