Railway aims to finish installation by Dec

The project authority of Padma Bridge will start handing over the structure to the railway's authority today so that the latter can start installing rail track on the lower deck of the bridge.

Now both the agency will carry out a joint survey and it may take up to one week to complete the handing over process.

The railway authorities are expected to start installing rail track within two weeks, officials said.

The development came as officials of Bangladesh Railway (BR), Bangladesh Bridge Authority, project officials held a meeting at Mawa Service Area in Munshiganj yesterday, they said.

Railway is implementing the project to build a 169-km rail line from Dhaka to Jashore through the Padma Bridge at a cost of around Tk 40,000 crore.

Md Kamruzzaman, deputy project director (technical) of Padma Multipurpose Bridge Project said they will hand over the relevant portion of the bridge to railway authorities today.

"It may take up to one week to complete the handing over process," the official told The Daily Star yesterday.

Afzal Hossain, project director of Padma Bridge Rail Link Project, said they will start a joint survey as a part of receiving the structure and it may take up to two to start installation of track.

BR is implementing the rail link project to build a 169-km rail line from Dhaka to Jashore through the Padma Bridge at a cost of around Tk 40,000 crore.

The double-decker bridge -- roadway on the top and rail line on the bottom, was opened to traffic last month. BBA implement the bridge project but railway will install rail tack on lower deck of the bridge under the rail link project.

"We will try to complete installation of rail line on around 7km length on the bridge and its connecting portion within December this year," Afzal said.

BR had a plan to launch train operation along with the road operation on Mawa-Bhanga section but later changed the decision as BBA declined to handover the bridge before opening due to "technical reasons".

Visiting the project site on Friday, Railways Minister Nurul Islam Sujan said the install of track on the bridge would be started this week.

He also hoped that the train operation from Dhaka to Bhanga via the bridge would be started by June next year.

Replying to a question, the minister said a technical team will assess whether the vibration on the road bridge will cause problems for track installation. They will solve if any problems arise, he added.

Md Kamruzzaman however said operation of vehicles on the bridge would not hamper track installation works.