Bangladesh Railway (BR) will soon add few more locomotives in its fleet to cater to the increasing demand for efficient, faster and time-bound services. Officials at the state-run organisation told BSS that they had planned making railway more attractive and reliable mode of transport for carrying both passengers and goods.
They said the 142-year-old organisation has long been suffering from resource constraint, barring it from offering proper services to satisfy customers. Among the major problems were shortages of locomotives and passengers' carriers. The officials, however, said the present government had initiated some projects to improve the railway services so it can offer desire service to the people.
Under the projects, the train services will be strengthened with new locomotives and passengers' carrier and container's wagons, and introducing commuter trains on Dhaka-bound routes from some surrounding townships. BR director general Abu Taher said nine new locomotives would be on track this year when the process of procuring 11 more rail-engines would be finalized. Among the new engines, four will arrive in Dhaka in July and the rest will be here by September, much ahead of the stipulated time of January next year.
The Railway authority on January last year signed an agreement with a South Korean company to procure the locomotives when the firm was given two years time for supplying the engines.
An official said the nine locomotives would cost Taka 284.23 crore, of which South Korean government would provide a soft loan amounting to US $28 million (Taka 199.7 crore) in their currency when the government would source Taka 85.16 crore. BR additional director general Khalilur Rahman said after trial all the nine locomotives would be in services this year in the eastern zone, easing the shortage of locomotives.
He said the services would be way better with the new locomotives because the new engines would help maintain schedule and would eventually faster services. With nine more engines, the total number of locomotives would be 295. At present, BR has a fleet of 286 locomotives engines. Of them, 208 engines are operating in the eastern zone on meter gauge and the rest 78 are serving the western zone on broad gauge tracks.
BR joint director general Shamsuzzaman said they are now finalizing a process for procuring 11 more locomotives under financial assistance by JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency).
Another Railway official said the 22 kilometers of new railways were constructed when 139 kilometers of tracks were rehabilitated last year to improve railway connectivity. Finance Minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith in his budget speech also said that a separate Railway Division was set up under the Ministry of Communication as part of reforming the railway sector.
He said the next step would complete the transformation of BR into a corporate organisation and finalise the 20-year Master Plan for railway very soon. BR, a principle transportation agency of the country, covers a length of 2,855 route kilometers employing a total of 34,168 regular employees. -BSS
They said the 142-year-old organisation has long been suffering from resource constraint, barring it from offering proper services to satisfy customers. Among the major problems were shortages of locomotives and passengers' carriers. The officials, however, said the present government had initiated some projects to improve the railway services so it can offer desire service to the people.
Under the projects, the train services will be strengthened with new locomotives and passengers' carrier and container's wagons, and introducing commuter trains on Dhaka-bound routes from some surrounding townships. BR director general Abu Taher said nine new locomotives would be on track this year when the process of procuring 11 more rail-engines would be finalized. Among the new engines, four will arrive in Dhaka in July and the rest will be here by September, much ahead of the stipulated time of January next year.
The Railway authority on January last year signed an agreement with a South Korean company to procure the locomotives when the firm was given two years time for supplying the engines.
An official said the nine locomotives would cost Taka 284.23 crore, of which South Korean government would provide a soft loan amounting to US $28 million (Taka 199.7 crore) in their currency when the government would source Taka 85.16 crore. BR additional director general Khalilur Rahman said after trial all the nine locomotives would be in services this year in the eastern zone, easing the shortage of locomotives.
He said the services would be way better with the new locomotives because the new engines would help maintain schedule and would eventually faster services. With nine more engines, the total number of locomotives would be 295. At present, BR has a fleet of 286 locomotives engines. Of them, 208 engines are operating in the eastern zone on meter gauge and the rest 78 are serving the western zone on broad gauge tracks.
BR joint director general Shamsuzzaman said they are now finalizing a process for procuring 11 more locomotives under financial assistance by JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency).
Another Railway official said the 22 kilometers of new railways were constructed when 139 kilometers of tracks were rehabilitated last year to improve railway connectivity. Finance Minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith in his budget speech also said that a separate Railway Division was set up under the Ministry of Communication as part of reforming the railway sector.
He said the next step would complete the transformation of BR into a corporate organisation and finalise the 20-year Master Plan for railway very soon. BR, a principle transportation agency of the country, covers a length of 2,855 route kilometers employing a total of 34,168 regular employees. -BSS
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