The Bangladesh Railway said that they suspended journeys of 32 trains for different destinations across the country for two to three days from Saturday for security reasons and less number of passengers.

The decision came hours after Friday evening’s incident of torching the Benapole Express train at Dhaka’s Gopibagh that killed at least four people and injured several others.

The BR announced the closure of the trains when the government and the Election Commission were heading for the 12th general election slated for Sunday amid boycott by the opposition political parties and the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party enforced 48-hour hartal between 6:00am on Saturday and 6:00am on Monday.

Among the suspended trains, the Benapole Express will remain closed between January 6 and January 8.

Bangladesh Railway director general Md Quamrul Ahsan told New Age on Saturday morning that they had cancelled journeys of 32 trains.

‘We cancelled journeys of these trains for security reasons and because we are not getting enough passengers, especially to run some local trains,’ he added.

Bangladesh Railway’s east zone general manager Asim Kumar Talukder said that they closed Benapole Express for three days to collect coaches for the train as four of its coaches were burned in Friday’s incident.

Some other local trains that will remain closed on these two days include Mohanonda, Rocket, Padmarag, Rangpur Shuttle, Dhaka Commuter, Rajshahi Commuter, Bogura Commuter, Chilmari Commuter and a Local train.