New railway bridge soon:minister

Railways Minister Nurul Islam Sujan yesterday said a railway bridge will be constructed beside the Bangabandhu Multipurpose Bridge to improve communication between the western railway zone and Dhaka.

The minister said this while talking to journalists during his visit to Rangpur Railway Station in the afternoon, ahead of the inauguration of three new inter-city trains to the division. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will inaugurate the service through video conference on October 16.

The minister said construction of the two-line dual gauge Bangabandhu Railway Bridge will begin next January and hoped that it will be completed by 2023.

He said the present government has undertaken a project to construct a direct rail line from Sirajganj to Bogura. “After implementing it, distance from Rangpur to Dhaka will be reduced by around 100km,” he said.

Sujan said only one inter-city train -- Rangpur Express -- is currently running from Rangpur to Dhaka, to maintain railway communication between the two cities. “Many bogies of the train have become unusable. The same situation prevails with Lalmonirhat Express,” he said.

As a result, schedules of the trains cannot be maintained properly, which causes problems for passengers. “We are importing 50 broad gauge and 200 meter gauge coaches from Indonesia to resolve the crisis,” he said.

The minister said the country’s roads have improved significantly but not the train tracks.

“All the trains are running on the old tracks. With the increase in number of trains, schedules of trains will be affected further,” he said, adding that the government has undertaken a double-line railway project to eliminate the problem.