Ctg-Cox’s Bazar: Rail line to open by June next year: minister

The under-construction rail line between Chattogram and Cox's Bazar will be opened by June next year, said Railways Minister Nurul Islam Sujan yesterday.

The minister announced this while talking to reporters at the under-construction Cox's Bazar railway station, after inspecting the project site.

In March last year, the minister expressed hope that Cox's Bazar will come under the rail network within December 2022.

Physical works of the project started in March 2018, around eight years after approval, and the project for laying 100 km of rail track from Chattogram's Dohazari to Cox's Bazar's Ramu saw 76 percent progress till October this year.

The project -- taken in 2010 to lay a metre-gauge rail track at a cost of Tk 1,852.35 crore -- was supposed to be finished within June 2013.

But a decision was made in 2014 to go for a dual-gauge track for better connectivity, raising the cost to Tk 18,034.47 crore.

The project's last deadline is June 2024, with one-year defect liability period.

Works of Cox's Bazar railway station are expected to be completed within April next year.

The minister said they will procure 54 modern carriages, which will be like tourist coaches.

Local Awami League lawmaker Shaimum Sarwar Kamal, new director general of Bangladesh Railway Md Kamrul Ahsan, and BR's general manager (east) Jahangir Hossain, among others, accompanied the minister during the visit.