Railway unveils roadmap

Bangladesh Railway yesterday unveiled a two-and-a-half-year roadmap to implement 67 projects to develop the long-neglected railway sector.
It focuses on construction of additional tracks to Dhaka-Joydebpur and Dhaka-Narayanganj routes to run trains on time and transport more passengers.
According to the plan, railway will build third and fourth tracks between Kamalapur Railway Station and Tongi junction, where most of the Dhaka-bound trains stop for clearance wasting valuable time of the passengers.
The two additional rail lines will help railway operate more trains on time.
Announcing the plan at Rail Bhaban, Railways Minister Suranjit Sengupta told newsmen, “I have been pressing the donors to fund the two tracks.”
However, he added that he would try to implement second lines for Tongi-Joydebpur and Dhaka-Narayanganj routes.
Two more trains will run on Dhaka-Narayanganj and Dhaka-Joydebpur routes from this month to serve more commuters, mentioned the minister.
Dhaka-bound trains from Rajshahi, Chilahati, Lalmonirhat, Rangpur, Jamalpur and Khulna regions, in many cases, remain stranded at Joydebpur station for hours as the Joydebpur-Tongi route has only a single lane track, said railway officials.
Similarly, trains from Sylhet, Chittagong and Noakhali also stop at Tongi station for clearance from Dhaka as one track is dedicated for the incoming trains and the other for outgoing ones.
Once implemented, the new four tracks would help the authorities run at least 40 more trains between Dhaka and other destinations. At present 72 trains connect the capital with other parts of the country, noted the officials.
“We have a plan to introduce an extra train on the Sylhet-Chatak route from February and one more intercity train on the Dhaka-Sylhet route from April,” said the minister who recently took over the newly created railways ministry.
The roadmap will be implemented in three phases. In the 18-month first phase, the ministry will carry out 21 projects including introduction of new trains on Dhaka-Narayanganj, Dhaka-Joydebpur, Dhaka-Sylhet and Sylhet-Chatak routes.
This phase will also ensure more trains running on schedule and better services to the passengers through recruiting necessary manpower and rehabilitating some poor tracks.
Eleven more projects will be executed in the second phase (July 2012 to June 2013). Many of the closed 160 railway stations will be reopened during this period.
“A large portion of the railway land has been occupied by grabbers. Steps have been taken to recover that…. A committee is working in this regard,” said Suranjit.
During the final phase of the roadmap till June 2014, railway will upgrade the single-track Tongi-Bhairab Bazar and Laksam-Chinki Astana routes into double-track, construct new rail line from Khulna to Mongla Port, remodel the Chittagong Railway Station, develop the Pahartoli workshop and procure several hundred tank wagons, locomotives and coaches.
Besides, many tracks which are now in a poor shape will also be rehabilitated in this phase.
Though there is a fund crunch and a lengthy procedure to follow in purchasing locomotives, wagons and coaches, the minister vowed to implement the roadmap.
“The railway sector has been neglected for a long time. This sector was also a victim of an international conspiracy which saw the expansion of roads and contraction of railways,” he pointed out.
According to a railway statistics, there were only 600-kilometres of roads in the country in 1947 against 2800-kilometres of railway tracks. At present the roads are about 90,000 kilometres while the rail lines have shrunk.
The minister admitted that criminals are peddling drugs and carrying out anti-social activities in many railway stations across the country. Even a section of railway police, security guards, local police, politicians and elected representatives are involved in these crimes, he added.
“This kind of activities will not be allowed any more,” he warned adding, he would also try to make the service of Maitri Express between Dhaka and Kolkata speedy and hassle-free.