The Bangladesh Railway鈥檚 network expansion is bringing little benefit to the passengers as shortages in locomotives, carriages and other vehicles and workforce as well remain persistent.
Despite various big-budget development projects railway department鈥檚 passenger services have hardly improved.
The crisis of rolling stock, a term meaning railway engines and carriages, is particularly evident in two recently constructed lines鈥擠ohazari-Ramu-Cox鈥檚 Bazar, and Dhaka-Jashore via Padma Bridge routes.
Although the related feasibility study has suggested running of 23 pairs of trains on the Dohazari-Ramu-Cox鈥檚 Bazar route connecting Dhaka, the railway has deployed only two pairs of trains are running.
The feasibility study on the Dhaka-Jashore via Padma Bridge route has suggested running of 30 pairs of trains.
On the Dhaka-Bhanga route, which is a stretch in the Dhaka-Jashore via Padma Bridge route, only four pairs of trains are running now. Another commuter train which was inaugurated in May this year closed down just two months later in July due to lack of passengers.
The authorities said that the whole route will be open to the passengers from this November, adding that they had no plan to run new trains on the route due to a lack of rolling stock.
The crisis of rolling stock stems mainly from the railway鈥檚 old and rickety locomotives, a term denoting train engines, carriages and wagons that have mostly passed their economic life, said officials.
As per Bangladesh Railway, the standard economic life of locomotives, passenger carriages, freight wagons and relief cranes are 20 years, 35 years, 40 years and 20 years respectively.
Currently, the state-owned agency has a total of 317 locomotives of which 125 or 39 per cent are running with their economic life on, while the rest are running past their economic lives.
Of total 2,016 passenger carriages, 1,083 or 54 per cent are running with their economic life still on.
The railway now has a total of 3,095 freight wagons of which only 887 or 28 per cent wagons are running with their economic life still on.
These conditions affect the railway鈥檚 daily operational performance on daily basis, said officials.
According to railway鈥檚 information book 2021, it had total 25,733 appointed staff against over around 40,000 sanctioned posts.
The 鈥楥onstruction of single line dual gauge track on Dohazari-Ramu-Cox鈥檚 Bazar and Ramu-Gundum (Myanmar)鈥� project began in July 2010.
The 102-kilometre Dohazari鈥揅ox鈥檚 Bazar section was inaugurated in November last year, establishing direct rail connection between the capital and the tourist destination with the world鈥檚 longest beach amid much enthusiasm from the passengers.
Project officials said that on the section 23 pairs of trains were scheduled to run.
鈥楥urrently two intercity trains鈥擟ox鈥檚 Bazar Express and Parjatak Express鈥攁re running on the section which starts from Dhaka,鈥� said a project official seeking anonymity.
Railway鈥檚 Chattogram divisional manager Md Kamruzzaman said that passenger demand was high for these trains with 100 per cent seats getting filled up in all the trips.
Recently proposals have been made to cut Tk 6,682.86 crore from this project to forgo the plan to construct rail tracks to connect Ramu with Gundum (Myanmar).
Under the second revision, now the Asian Development Bank and the government of Bangladesh funded project cost is estimated at Tk 11,351.62 crore which was earlier Tk 18,034.47 crore.
Under the fast-track Padma Bridge Rail Link project between Dhaka and Jashore via Padma Bridge, the railway has been setting up a 169km rail track at a cost of Tk 39,246 crore.
In November 2023, train operation started on the line from Dhaka to Bhanga with three intercity and mail trains are running on the line.
Sundarban Express on Dhaka-Khulna and Benapole Express on Dhaka-Benapole routes earlier ran through the Bangabandhu Bridge which are currently running from Dhaka to their destinations via Faridpur, Rajbari and Kushtia.聽
Madhumati Express which earlier ran on Fardipur-Rajshahi route now runs on the Dhaka-Rajshahi route.
Nakshikatha mail train which earlier ran on Khulna-Rajbari route now runs on the Dhaka-Khulna route.
In May this year a commuter train titled Bhanga Commuter was introduced on the Dhaka-Bhanga route but closed down in July.
Railway鈥檚 Pakshey division officials said that the train was closed down as it failed to draw enough passengers.
According to the feasibility study on the Dhaka-Jashore route 30 pairs of trains were scheduled to run once it would be fully opened.
The rail link project鈥檚 director Md Afzal Hossain told 抖阴精品 recently that rail communications on the entire Dhaka-Jashore route would be introduced in the middle of this November.
鈥榃e may introduce the line with some running train by changing routes as we do not have new trains to run on this line,鈥� he said.
The same project also proposed for 1,680 new appointments which have yet to get approval.聽
Officials at the Dhaka Railway division said that they received a good demand from the passengers for these trains with 90 per cent seats being filled up.
The demand of seats will rise to 100 per cent when all the stations will be opened, they observe, adding that some stations on the section are yet to open to the public.
A recent proposal was also made to cut Tk 1,845.54 crore from the project for reducing some expenses regarding price adjustment and other reasons.
Bangladesh Railway director general Sardar Shahadat Ali told 抖阴精品 that they were not able to run as many trains as they had estimated on the new lines due to a crisis of engines and carriages.
鈥楽ome purchase projects for rolling stock are at different stages,鈥� he said, adding that once these projects are matured the number of trains would increase on these lines.
The director general also said that they were awaiting the approval for the new recruitments that would be engaged for the services on the new lines.