The government is eying to construct 1210.42 km new rail line or reopen closed rail lines under the Sixth Five Year Plan (SFYP) by FY 15 as its vision to expand and improve the railway system to provide safer, better, environment friendly and less expensive transport facilities. The National Economic Council (NEC) on June 22 approved the country's Sixth Five-Year Plan (2011-15) with an outlay of Tk 13.47 trillion giving priority to education, employment generation and industrialization and projecting 8 percent GDP growth by the terminal year of 2015. According to the Plan, there will be double tracking of 506.20 km line and construction of 6 new important bridges along with all necessary infrastructure, rehabilitation/upgrading of 1535.73 km existing rail line along with all necessary infrastructures, remodeling/construction of 7 stations in existing section, improvement of 831 level crossing gates, construction of one ICD at Dhirasram and improvement of other infrastructures to increase carrying capacity. Talking to UNB, a Planning Commission official said that within the next five years, Bangladesh Railway (BR) has planned to undertake about 149 projects including 46 on-going and 103 new. "It is very essential to get the required allocation in time to implement the projects efficiently as lack of adequate fund will result in time over-run as well as cost over-run," he added. Under the Plan, BR will undertake procurement of 234 DE locomotives, 50 DEMU/DHMU, 771 passenger coaches and 1430 wagons to introduce new trains and improve the service quality and passenger amenities and increase carrying capacities of containers, fuel oil, aviation fuel, bulk freight and parcels. Besides, rehabilitation of 143 DE locomotives, 560 passenger coaches and 337 wagons will also be undertaken to enhance availability and performance of rolling stocks and to ensure reliability and punctuality of running trains. Signaling system of 113 stations will be modernized to ensure safety apart from undertaking various PPP projects to create other business opportunity. BR has also taken initiative to construct railway bridges through Bahadurabad-Phulchari ghat over river Jamuna, 2nd Karnaphuli rail-cum-road bridge, 2nd Bhairab and 2nd Titas railway bridge and dedicated railway bridge over river Jamuna parallel to existing Bangabandhu Bridge. BR has also planned to undertake projects to re-orient the railway network towards the capital, connecting the capital with Cox's Bazar, Mongla Port, Tungipara, Barisal, Chittagong Hill Tracts, and other areas, where rail network does not exist. Roads and Railways Division officials said that due to inadequate investment, the railway track is in poor condition in a number of areas, including the vital Dhaka-Chittagong corridors which need immediate rehabilitation and upgrading. Almost 78 percent of locomotives and 28 percent of passenger coaches are beyond their economic life and need immediate replacement. About 70 percent of the signaling system has become old aged and needs modernization. It is mentionable that with emergence of road transport, railway started losing its market share as it came down to 4 percent in 2005 from 30 percent in 1975. The strategy for SFYP also includes development of new inland container depots (ICD) and increasing the carrying capacity as commodities carried by rail are mostly sea port and land port based. Bangladesh Railway has also great potential in the regional traffic market, which depends on the expansion of railway network and the revival of historical railway links. Most of these are part of Trans Asian Railway network and Bangladesh has already signed the intergovernmental agreement.
Source
http://www.thenewnationbd.com/newsdetails.aspx?newsid=11347
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