Shifting of Kamalapur rly to Tongi to worsen city gridlock

Speakers at a roundtable yesterday said relocating Kamalapur railway station and container depot to Tongi will worsen the traffic situation in the city in future instead of improving it.

Every day some 50,000 commuters travel to Dhaka city through Kamalapur railway station, they added.

They stressed the need for developing a balanced multimodal transport system instead of increasing dependency solely on road transport.

If Kamalapur station as well as container depot is relocated, huge number of commuters will have to use alternative mode of transports to enter the city while goods distribution will also depend on road-based transport modes.

They further said that the step would further increase the flow of road transport inside the city intensifying the traffic congestion.

The speakers said this at the roundtable on 'Expectations about the development of railway: Recent steps' organised by Paribesh Bachao Andolon (Paba) and WBB Trust at the National Press Club in the city.

They pointed out that Dhaka Railway Station was shifted once in the 1960s from Fulbaria to Kamalapur to reduce congestion without any visible effect. One should look into the example of other successful mega cities of the world.

Buet Vice Chancellor Dr AMM Safiullah said railway was ignored since independence for road-based transport development, which was a wrong choice, adding that railway is the best mass transport because it can carry a large number of passengers.

Terming railway environment-friendly and cost-effective, he suggested introducing commuter trains connecting Dhaka with the surrounding districts as many passengers come to Dhaka from those areas daily.

He also suggested rescheduling train timing according to the needs of the passengers, especially during the office hours.

Fazle Hossain Badsha MP blamed the donor-prescribed policies for the current downfall of railway.

He stressed the need for improving rail services with the districts that produce more crops, vegetables, poultry and dairy products.

Citing the example of neighbouring India, he said improved service would enable the farmers to sell their own products instead of depending on middlemen, which will bring down the prices as well.

Barkat Ullah Bulu MP opposed the move to hand over railway to the private sector, saying that many state-owned agencies were handed over to the private sector earlier without any significant growth.

He suggested establishing a separate ministry for railway.

Prof Anwar Hossain, VC of Ahsanullah Science and Technology University, Prof Sarwar Jahan, chairman of Bangladesh Institute of Planners, Abu Naser Khan, chairman of Paba, Ashraful Alam, member of Rail Master Plan Study Team, and Md Syed Mahbubul Alam, programme manager of WBB, also spoke, among others.