Railway gets import-dependent as Saidpur bridge workshop closed for 8 years

Highlights:

• Since the bridge workshop at Saidpur Railway Workshop stopped production in 2014, around Tk1,000 crore was spent for importing equipment and parts essential for railway bridge maintenance
• There are 3,553 railway bridges, 402 of which are in precarious condition
• Trains are supposed to run over a bridge at a speed of 45-70 km per hour, but they cross the shaky bridges at a speed of only 10-15 km per hour
• The bridge workshop remains closed due to a manpower crisis
• Machines worth hundreds of taka are getting ruined in the closed factory

Due to a manpower crisis and lack of modernisation, the 150-year-old bridge workshop at Saidpur Railway Workshop, Nilphamari has remained inoperative for the last eight years.

Since the factory stopped production in 2014, around Tk1,000 crore was spent in the last eight years for importing equipment and parts essential for railway bridge maintenance, said the Bangladesh Railway officials.

Sources at the Bangladesh Railway said about Tk50,000 crores have been spent on the development of railways in the last ten years. The railway budget is around Tk12,000 crore for the current fiscal year, which was around Tk16,000 crore in the previous one. Currently, 43 railway development projects involving Tk1.44 lakh crore are underway.

However, no initiative has been taken to resume production at the bridge workshop, while the country's locomotives run across hundreds of worn-out bridges, said the officials.

According to the 2019-20 data of the Bangladesh Railway, there are 3,553 railway bridges, 402 of which are in precarious condition.

From 2014 to 2021, 175 people died in rail accidents. Not repairing the bridges, among other things, was a reason behind these accidents.

Normally, trains are supposed to run over a bridge at a speed of 45-70 km per hour, but they cross the shaky bridges at a speed of only 10-15 km per hour.

After assuming office around four years ago, Railways Minister Nurul Islam Sujan, said apart from the construction of new railways, there are plans to renovate railway tracks and culvert bridges. However, the dilapidated bridges have not been renovated yet.

Saidpur Railway Workshop was established in 1870 on 110 acres of land to make the subcontinent's huge railway system self-supporting. The bridge workshop was built on about 18 acres of land inside the factory at that time to manufacture components used in broad gauge, meter gauge, and railway bridges.

In the beginning, about 1,000 workers were employed in the factory which produced and repaired 100 types of products including platform sheds, equipment used at railway points and crossings, girders, motor trolleys, water tanks, and footbridges.

In 1991, the then BNP government adopted the cost reduction policy for railways. In continuation of this, when a "golden handshake" was announced in 1992, many workers retired with that benefit. At one point there were only six employees at the factory, so its operation was halted in 2014.

In the 1980s-90s, the bridge workshop exported products abroad after meeting the local demand, which was a significant source of the Bangladesh Railway's profit. Until 2014, various railway bridges and culverts were maintained or repaired with the goods produced at the factory. Foreign engineers from Germany, England and the USA still visit the factory to gather ideas about large scale railway maintenance work, said sources.

At present, a storekeeper, an office assistant and a cleaner look after the factory. Since the assistant bridge engineer in charge has no work, he does not come to the workplace regularly. Md Abdur Rahim is the executive head of the bridge workshop on paper, but he works at Railway's Pakshi division.

Machines and materials worth hundreds of crores of taka getting ruined in the abandoned factory, said sources.

Jewel Mia, assistant engineer of Saidpur Railway Workshop, said the damaged machinery at the factory cannot be repaired in the country. Around Tk4,000 crore required for the purchase of all these machines. Several letters have been sent to the higher authorities in this regard, but they have not responded yet.

Dr Md Hadiuzzaman, professor of Bangladesh University and Engineering and Technology, said, "At least 1,000 types of parts are required for railways. As the railway workshop is closed, equipment worth hundreds of crores of taka have to be imported from abroad every year. The government should hire skilled manpower immediately to restart the factory without further delay."

SM Salimullah Bahar, chief planning officer of the Bangladesh Railway, said, "We currently have no plans to resume railway bridge workshop's operation.