Bangladesh Railway must remain on track

Bangladesh Railway has been trudging along for a good number of years without any purposeful measures being taken to make it go faster. And now that it has run into problems over its move to purchase 70 metre gauge diesel-electric locomotives, owing specifically to arguments by various firms that the locomotives are outdated and also that the tender for the purchase of the locomotives favours a single company, in this instance a Korean firm, there are fresh causes for worry.
Compared to other transport systems in Bangladesh, BR offers a cheap way of travel for people throughout the country. Besides, trains remain by and large a safe means of travel, which is one other good reason why BR is favoured by travellers. And despite all these positive aspects of railway travel, there is something of an irony in that over the years the number of locomotives at BR has gone down from a high of 486 t0 295. And most of the remaining locomotives date back fifty years or so. How such a situation has come to pass has never quite been explained. And now BR faces the prospect of purchasing locomotives that do not have revolution capacity per minute (RPM) of more than 900-1100. The firms arguing that they be permitted to pitch in with their products point out that in an age where railways in other parts of the world have locomotives operating on 1,900 RPM, it is only proper that BR come level with current trends.
The onus now is on the authorities to break out of the logjam. BR needs to cut through red tape and move toward a purchase of locomotives that will fulfill public needs to the maximum. What must be borne in mind is that Bangladesh Railway must remain on track, for an incredibly large number of our population depend on it for movement.
Basically, the government needs to get its priorities right in terms of where most of the emphasis for a multimodal transportation system will be placed.