A third pair of trains began running between Dhaka and Cox's Bazar on Monday evening, with Railway Minister Shaikh Rabiul Alam saying a Shovon Chair seat on the full route will cost Tk 685.

The minister inaugurated the service at Kamalapur Railway Station in Dhaka. BSS reported the new train as "Mahanagar Provati", while UNB described the launch as an extension of the existing Mahanagar Express, which until now ran only between Dhaka and Chattogram. Both accounts agree on the fares, the timetable and the plan to add more trains on the route.

Before Monday, two train pairs — the Cox's Bazar Express and the Tourist Express — had been running on the 467.83-kilometre route since the line opened in December 2023. The addition takes the daily total to three pairs. According to the published timetable, the train leaves Kamalapur at 8:30pm, reaches Chattogram at 2:40am and arrives at Cox's Bazar station at 6:00am. The return service leaves Cox's Bazar at 9:00am, stops at Chattogram at 12:10pm and is due in Dhaka at 6:30pm. The journey takes about nine and a half hours in each direction, and the train does not run on Sundays.

The new service stops at 12 stations between the two ends: Airport, Narsingdi, Bhairab Bazar, Ashuganj, Brahmanbaria, Akhaura, Kasba, Cumilla, Laksam, Nangalkot, Feni and Chattogram. The old halt at Kumira has been dropped. Passengers from those intermediate districts can now reach Cox's Bazar without changing trains.

Fares are set by seat class. The minister put the Shovon Chair fare at Tk 685 and the AC Chair fare at about Tk 1,311. The railway's fare table, as reported by UNB, runs up to Tk 1,570 for the highest class, and a seat between Cox's Bazar and Chattogram costs Tk 240 to Tk 547. The two reports also differ slightly on capacity, with BSS saying the train has about 706 seats and UNB putting it at 736 after the number of coaches was raised. Tickets are sold through the Rail Sheba app and website and at station counters.

Rabiul Alam said demand for the route had long outpaced the number of trains the railway could operate. He blamed a shortage of locomotives and coaches, and said procurement of new rolling stock, track work and other projects were under way to raise capacity. "To facilitate passengers, we are introducing a train named Mahanagar Provati from Dhaka to Cox's Bazar via Chattogram," BSS quoted him as saying. The government, he added, wants to increase the service gradually to seven pairs a day because the line matters for both tourism and ordinary travel.

Cox's Bazar is the country's best-known beach destination, and the rail link, built under the Dohazari–Cox's Bazar project, gave travellers an alternative to a road journey that often stretches past ten hours. Since the line opened, seats on the two existing trains have frequently sold out around holidays.

It is not yet clear how quickly the remaining four pairs could be added, given the rolling-stock shortage the minister himself described, or how full the first trips will be. The railway has not said whether the Tk 685 fare is fixed for the long term or could be revised. The first return service from Cox's Bazar was due to leave on Tuesday morning, giving officials an early sign of how the timetable holds on the coast.

State Minister for Railways Habibur Rashid, Railways Secretary Md Fahimul Islam and Bangladesh Railway Director General Md Afzal Hossain attended the opening, according to UNB.