BR again seeks locomotives from India

With 67 percent of the locomotives of Bangladesh Railway (BR) past their economic life, the state-run agency has turned to India for the second time in less than four years to mitigate its engine crisis.

Recently, BR sought 20 broad gauge (BG) locomotives from the neighbouring country.

And India agreed to provide the rail engines as grant, according to the India–Bangladesh joint statement issued yesterday following Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during her four-day official tour.

The 20 locomotives would be deployed on different routes, including cross-border train service, Sardar Shahadat Ali, additional director general (operations) of BR, told The Daily Star.

It is not known yet whether the locomotives would be brand new or used.

"We sought 20 locomotives -- be it little been used or new. It will help us very much," said a BR official asking not to be named as he is not authorised to speak with the media.

The neighbouring country had sent in 10 "little bit used" locomotives in July 2020 following a proposal from BR to "hire" or "get as courtesy" 20 railway engines.

"But they were working very well as they have more powerful engines and were heavily overhauled before sending to Bangladesh," he said, adding that the locomotives helped BR to improve its service, especially when cross-border transportation by rail.

Of the BR's 263 locomotives, 249 are currently operating and about 67 percent of the rail engines have crossed their 20-year economic lifespan, shows a BR document published in June.

Poor planning, lengthy procurement process, contractors' failure to deliver shipments as promised, and lately the Covid-19 pandemic have left the BR with 67 percent of its locomotives overaged, according to experts and engineers.

As a result, the state-run transport agency is failing to live up to the expectations in terms of services and timing. At the same time, its operational costs are going up, they said.

The BR has long been struggling to run its services with outdated engines, but the situation deteriorated after more than 100 new trains were added to its fleet over the last decade. Train carriages and locomotives are procured separately.

As per BR documents, the agency will procure 140 locomotives -- 100 metre gauge and 40 BG -- under ongoing projects. Of those, 30 MG and 16 BG locomotives are already in service. Another 24 BG locomotives were supposed to join the fleet by now but have been delayed, compelling the authorities to extend the deadline.

But the project to procure the largest batch of locomotives -- 70 MG ones -- has fallen into deep uncertainty as the South Korean contractor wants to pull out from the project after the government asked it to manage soft loans instead of non-concessional loans as agreed.

The project is on hold now and the implementing agency would be cancelling the contract soon, said a BR official informed on the discussions.

"In this situation, the 20 locomotives would be of great help," he added.