Bangladesh Railway (BR) has taken an initiative to upgrade all the rail routes across the country to double-track ones in a bid to improve its services amid the growing number of train passengers, reports UNB. Sources at the Bangladesh Railway said 323 km out of 2877.1 km rail lines across the country have already been made double-track ones. An agreement was recently signed among Bangladesh Railway and Dohna Engineering Company Ltd. Korea, Oriental consultants Global Company Limited, Japan, Balaji railroad Systems Ltd, India, and Development Design Consultants Ltd, Bangladesh, for monitoring the consultation of the 72-km Akhaura-Laksam double-track project.
The Tk 650-crore project will be implanted with funding from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the European Investment Bank (EIB). Nearly Tk 231 crore will be spent on only consultation service of the project, according to the sources. Talking to UNB, Railways Minister Mujibul Haque said the ministry will chalk out a plan to convert every single rail-track into double-track one across the country. “When all the rail lines in the country will be double-tracked, train communication will be easier and smoother enabling commuters to reach their destinations within a short time,” he said. Most part of the Dhaka-Chittagong route has already been complemented with double-track, while the rest of the route will be turned into the double-track one very soon, the minister added.
Mujibul Haque hoped that the commuters on the Dhaka-Chittagong route will be able to reach their destinations in 4-5 hours once works on the rest of the route is completed.
BR Director General Amzad Hossain said the laying of the double-track on the entire Dhaka-Chittagong route will take three years to be completed. “By the time, we’ve chalked out various plans to set up double-track lines on different routes,” he added.
Nearly 126.25 km double-track lines will be set up from Khulna to Darshana under a Line of Credit (LoC) fund, he said. Besides, the government has started the process for the development of nearly 264 km double rail lines - 164.21 km from Joydebpur to Ishwardi, 72 km from Dhaka-Tongi, 11.27 km from Tongi to Joydebpur and 16.1 km from Dhaka to Narayanganj -- while 22.94 km from Dhaka to Tongi will be refurbished with 3rd and 4th tracks, said Hossain.
The DG noted that it sometimes becomes difficult to manage the train schedule as a train has to wait at the station for letting another train leave the station. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina recently has inaugurated the 61-kilometer Laksam-Chinki Astana double-line project on Dhaka-Chittagong route and the 64-kilometer Tongi-
Bhoirab Bazar double line project.
Currently, trains can commute at a speed of 50 km per hour on Dhaka-Chittagong route and those will be able to commute faster after the installation of the second track, the sources said.
Besides, a feasibility study and the design of Chittagong-Duhajari double-track project has been completed, which will be constructed with the assistance from the Asian Development Bank.