Three mega boosts for railway: Padma Rail Bridge and two more

The Bangladesh Railway is having one of its most eventful periods in its 161-year history, with three new routes opening in October and November, connecting five districts by rail for the first time.

The landmark 6.15km Padma Rail Bridge will be inaugurated on Tuesday with the aim to expand the benefit of the newly-built rail line towards the country's southwest region.

A special train carrying Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will cross the bridge this afternoon, more than a year after she opened the road bridge portion of the megastructure. This mark a long-drawn vision to connect people across the mighty Padma to Dhaka by land transports coming to reality in full.

Two more rail lines will be inaugurated in November. The Khulna-Mongla railway line is opening on November 9, while the newly-built Dohazari-Cox's Bazar rail line connecting port city Chattogram to the beach town is scheduled for formal inauguration on November 12. Trial run on this route will take place on October 15.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will inaugurate both the routes, said Railway Minister Nurul Islam Sujan.

These new routes will herald a new era for the railway, which will now link Dhaka directly with all major ports—two seaports and largest land port as well as the most important tourist spot. It will also open the country's window to the planned Trans Asian Railway.

Bangladesh Railway, now covering a 3018 km route, started its journey in the then East Bengal with 53 km track between Darsana and Jagati of Kushtia on 15 November, 1862.  The Padma Bridge, the country's largest and second railroad bridge after one built over the Jamuna river connecting the northern region in 1998.  

The Kamalapur-Mawa-Bhanga line will offer the first-time rail service initially to the people of three districts on the both banks of the Padma Rail Bridge --Munshiganj, Shariatpur and Madaripur.

One more district, Narail, will be added to the rail network once the work on the new track to Jashore completes in June next year. Then Dhaka-Kolkata direct train and some other inter-city express trains which now ply the Bangabandhu-Jamuna Multipurpose Bridge, will be redirected to this route, railway officials said.   

No date has been set for commencing regular service for the public, but commuters may have to pay higher than a bus ride if the proposed train fare comes to effect – Tk350 non-AC and Tk667 for AC chair for a Dhaka-Bhanga train ride, as proposed by a railway committee. 

The bus fare for the same route is Tk250 for non-AC and Tk500 for AC service. 

The date has not yet been announced for the new rail route to open to the public, said railway director general Kamrul Ahsan.  

Railway Minister Md Nurul Islam Sujan told The Business Standard that commercial operations will begin "as soon as possible" after the inauguration. A senior official of railway operations, wishing not to be named, said it might take up to November to commence regular service.

The 82 km Kamalapur-Bhanga track is part of the 169 km Dhaka-Jashore rail line under the Padma Bridge Rail Link Project which expects additional 1% economic growth through a significant reduction of travel time from Dhaka to Jashore, Khulna and other western destinations.

The project, scheduled to complete in June 2024, will connect 21 southwestern districts by a network of total 215.2 km of the main line and loops as well as linking of some branch lines.   

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will inaugurate the new line at 12 PM by unveiling the plaque from a public rally at the new rail station at the Mawa end of the bridge.

She will board the inaugural train from Mawa station and travel to Bhanga, where she address another rally.

Railway Minister Md Nurul Islam Sujan told TBS that a number of trial runs of passengers and freight trains had been operated earlier after the construction of the new rail line.

The work on the Tk39,247 crore Padma Bridge commenced on 12 December 2015 and the road bridge on the upper deck was opened on June 25 last year for public transport.

The route will have 20 stations--14 new and the rest renovated old ones. Once completed, the trains will be able to run at a speed of 120 to 130 kmph.

A total of 23.377km of viaducts, 66 major bridges, 244 minor bridges and culverts 1 road overpass and 29 Level Crossings are to be developed under the project.

The rail minister said that all works under the project are to be completed by June next year following the revised deadline. This development will decrease the rail distance between Dhaka and Khulna by 346 km, resulting in a remarkable reduction of travel time by six hours.

The project will substantially cut travel time and distance from Dhaka to Jashore and Khulna. It will reduce distance from Dhaka to Jashore by 212 km or 44%, from now 381 km via Bangabandhu Bridge over the Jamuna River, taking roughly eight hours, railway officials said.

A train has to travel 537 km to reach Khulna from Dhaka via the Bangabandhu Bridge currently. The Padma Rail Link will reduce the distance to only 191 km and the travel time from 10 hours now to only four, they informed.

The trip may cost at least Tk350

The proposed fare for the 82km rail journey is higher than that for the 321-km distance between Chittagong and Dhaka. The current train fare for non-AC chair from Dhaka to Chattoram is TK345 and the rate is Tk656 for an AC chair seat.

The committee headed by Nazmul Islam, chief commercial manager (East) of Bangladesh Railway has already handed over the proposal for the fare to the authorities, official sources said on Monday.

The proposal is now under evaluation by the railways ministry, they added.

Explaining, they said, in the fare calculation, each kilometer distance on the Padma Bridge has been considered an operational distance of 25 km and every kilometre of the elevated rail from Gandaria to Keraniganj is considered 5 km of operational distance. This makes the 82-km track into a 353km operational distance.