Two trains ran on trial basis on the under-construction Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Railway Bridge over the River Jamuna for the first time on Tuesday.
Train services on the bridge would be formally inaugurated in January next year, said the officials of Bangladesh Railway.
The trial run of the trains would continue today (Wednesday) for taking some measurements, they added.
Bangladesh Railway, under the railways ministry, is implementing the railway bridge project.
Under the project, a total of 30.73-kilometre new rail line, including a 4.8-kilometre dual-gauge and double-track rail bridge, 0.05-kilometre viaduct on both sides and a 7.667-kilometre railway approach embankment are under construction in parallel with the existing Bangabandhu Bridge.
Till now, the overall progress of the project is around 97 per cent, said the project director Al Fattah Md Masudur Rahman.
He said that on Tuesday a train at first started from the bridge鈥檚 east side at Bhuapur in Tangail and reached the west side at Saydabad area in Sirajganj.
Another train reached the east side from the west side, he said.
The officer also said that the trains ran with a maximum speed of 40 kilometres per hour speed while the trains on the bridge would run with a maximum speed of 120 kilometres per hour.
鈥榃e are planning to introduce train services on the bridge from January 2025,鈥� he added.
The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council approved the main project on December 6, 2016 and its first revision was made on March 3, 2020.
The original project cost was Tk聽9,734.07 crore and it increased to Tk聽16,780.96 crore after the first revision including the loan of Tk聽12,149.2 crore from Japan International Cooperation Agency.
Original time of the project was between July 2016 and December 2023. But, after the first revision, the deadline is now December 2025 with one year鈥檚 Defect Liability period.
Construction of the bridge started in August 2020.
The bridge is under construction in two packages 鈥� WD-1 for 2,550-metre of the steel truss bridge, 26 spans and 25.8 metre viaduct and WD-2 for 2,250-metre of the steel truss bridge, 23 spans and 25 metres viaduct.
There are 50 piers and 17 spans in the bridge.