The communication gap between the Bangladesh Railway (BR) and the Planning Commission (PC) over the latter's poor response to the Bangladesh Railway's 23 proposals appears to be smacking of a lot of unease. For a vital government sector just starting to command the strength to roll projects anew after the 2-year corona impasse, its feeling of neglect in terms of endorsement doesn't bode well. Fund crunch is said to be behind the cuts in the number of Railway projects. As an FE report says out of 23, the Planning Commission has given go-ahead to only three BR projects since 2020.
Referring to the Planning Commission's cold-shouldering of BR proposals, the FE quoted sources as having said the PC has approved the electric traction study at the end of the FY 2020-21 and the two others at the end of the FY 2022. They are procurement of 200 broad gauge carriages and a study on railway connectivity improvement. Despite the conventional railway projects being largely constrained by delays caused by red tape and lengthy formalities, there are the ones which prove to be of great significance to the average railway passengers. These projects are traditionally known as pro-poor. Automation and modernisation of the country's fast widening railway network do need prioritisation. Truly a mass transport, its preference to costlier road transport is quite obvious and it warrants revamping at the earliest.
Dismissing the railway as a dying behemoth and engaging in blame game will neither do justice to this mass transport nor its passengers left economically devastated at a critical time. The FE report hasn't failed to refer to the projects undertaken by a state-backed rail track developer and operator. They have been awaiting approval since the corona pandemic period. It is not so much periodic fund crunches that the BR faces, perhaps what ails the planning commission and the other relevant authorities is the sloppy manner in which the funds are utilised ---or unutilised. The BR's track records are not enviable in using public money for improving railway service. So, the Planning Commission cannot be blamed for not approving BR projects.
However, the corona pandemic's adverse impact on the railway cannot be ignored. The BR started receiving increased budgetary allocations since FY 2010, with a record rise of 60-70 per cent on an average due to prioritisation of the sector. Since FY 2021, the budgetary share for the sector in the ADP has also witnessed a little rise. In the current fiscal, 5.8 per cent of the total budget goes to the railway sector's development. So there is a need for ensuring accountability of those charged with project execution. In a country so small and poor, it was a mistake to expand road communication to the neglect of its railway. Modernisation of the railway with the introduction of electric trains can not only slash travel time drastically but also provide momentum to businesses and commerce with a discernible positive impact on economy. All this needs investment. The greater the investment in the railway sector is ---provided it is utilised properly---the greater the benefit for the nation.