Dhaka circular rail on the horizon

It's encouraging to learn from a recent report published by this paper that Bangladesh Railway (BR) has carried out a feasibility study to build a circular rail network around Dhaka to ease traffic congestion on the city roads. The government proposed establishing the circular rail network to facilitate the daily influx of Dhaka-bound workers and traders from neighbouring districts like Gazipur, Manikganj, Munshiganj, Narayanganj, Narsingdi, and Tangail. Using the network, people will be able to go from one end of the capital to another without having to enter the city. The rail network will have a total of 24 stations, 11 of which will have interchange facilities with the metro rail, dedicated bus services, and Sadarghat launch terminal.

The circular rail along the existing inner ring road of the capital and part of Narayanganj district will be 80.89 km long, and will take approximately six years to complete at an estimated cost of USD 8.37 billion. A China-Bangladesh joint venture firm conducted the feasibility study and submitted the draft report to the project authorities, who then sent copies of the report to various agencies including the Roads and Highways Department (RHD), Dhaka Transport Coordination Authority (DTCA), Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA), and Dhaka Mass Transit Company Ltd (DMTCL) for their opinions.

While it is encouraging to know that the circular rail network will greatly reduce traffic congestion in Dhaka, which causes an annual estimated loss of between Tk 20,000 crore and Tk 55,000 crore, it must be noted that the effectiveness of such a project depends on many other factors including integrated services. Severe problems may arise if the authorities proceed without proper coordination among the different agencies involved. Given the previous history of BR, one is unsure of its ability to operate the circular rail network efficiently, so the onus is on BR to dispel such misgivings. As the project will be highly costly, it may be practical to implement it under a public-private partnership (PPP). Also, given the magnitude of such a project, the government must be careful so that funds are not mismanaged or misappropriated in any way. We hope the new network will help ease movement for the Dhaka-bound commuters.