Kalurghat railway bridge under renovation, river crossing through ferry

Trains and traffic movement through Chatogram's Kalurghat Bridge is being suspended as authorities are renovating the 92-year-old structure. 

During the renovation period, two ferries will ply on the Karnaphuli River for the crossing of vehicles.

"A contractor has been appointed for the renovation of the Kalurghat railway bridge. The company has started bringing the necessary goods. Work will start in 8-10 days. We have informed the officials of the Road Transport and Highways Division that movement of vehicles and trains will remain halted during the renovation works," General Manager (GM) of the Railways Department (Eastern wing) Md Jahangir Hossain told The Business Standard.

The renovation work might take three months and will cost Tk55 crore. The initiative was taken to strengthen the bridge before the start of train movement on the Dohazari-Cox's Bazar route.

Pintu Chakma, executive engineer of the Road Transport and Highways Division, said, "The ferry service will continue during the renovation work. Two ferries have already been kept ready. It has not yet been decided how much money will be charged from which type of vehicle on the ferry. A letter has been sent to the Ministry of Road Transport and Bridges to inform them about the matter. The ferry service will be started after the toll rate is decided by the ministry."

Railway engineers said in August 2004, major renovation work was done on this bridge at a cost of Tk10 crore.

Then another round of reforms was done in 2012.

Presently, 10-tonne heavy engines of trains on the Chattogram-Dohazari railway line run over the bridge at the maximum speed of 10km per hour.

But the engine weight of Cox's Bazar bound train will be 12-15 tonnes. The maximum train speed will be 80-100km/hour. Due to the current condition of the Kalurghat bridge, it will not be possible to run the train at this speed. There is a plan to run trains at a speed of 40-50km/hour. For this, the bridge is being renovated as per the advice of the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET)'s consulting team, the railway engineers said.

"We are thinking of completing the ongoing work of the Dohazari-Cox's Bazar railway line by September and starting the train movement. Out of the 100km railway line, 82km railway line has been completed. Project progress is 86%. The work of a small and big bridge/culvert on the railway line has also been completed. Now the mechanical work is going on," Mofizur Rahman, director of the Dohazari-Ramu-Cox's Bazar railway project, said.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina laid the foundation stone of the metre gauge railway line construction up to Dohazari-Ramu-Cox's Bazar and Ramu-Ghumdhum in 2011.

Under the project, 88km was from Chattogram's Dohazari to Ramu and 12km was from Ramu to Cox's Bazar.

The construction of the dual gauge and single track railway project started in 2018, almost seven years after the inauguration by the prime minister.

Construction of the 100 km railway line from Dohazari to Cox's Bazar Ramu is estimated to cost Tk1,852 crore.

In 2016, after revising the project proposal, the cost increased to Tk18,034 crore. It was financed by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Government of Bangladesh.

According to information from the railways department, a bridge construction firm named Brunick and Company built the Kalurghat Bridge over the Karnaphuli River in 1931.

The bridge was built after World War I for a direct rail link with Myanmar; later this railway line was built up to Dohazari.

The 638-metre-long bridge was declared vulnerable in 2001.