The rail connectivity is likely to fall six months behind inauguration of the Padma Bridge scheduled for June next, sources said.
This is because, they said, the rail-track-placement work cannot be continued simultaneously with the work of the road bridge which was progressing in full-swing to make the bridge ready for opening.
The Bangladesh Bridge Authority (BBA) has already apprised the Bangladesh Railway (BR) of its inconvenience.
The government had earlier announced that both train and road sections will be opened from the first day of inaugurating the bridge.
"The BR can only start the work after completion of all necessary works of the road bridge," Project Director of Padma Multipurpose Bridge (PMB) Project M Shafiqul Islam said.
He said BR officials also visited the site along with the PMB officials and were convinced about the inconvenience in developing the rail line simultaneously.
High officials including project directors and consultants of the PMB and Padma Bridge Rail Link (PBRL) projects under BBA and BR visited the bridge construction site in December last.
Mr Islam said the work of the rail track cannot be carried out simultaneously from the technical point of view. "There is nothing we can do to prevent the work … it is just technically not possible."
Talking to the FE over phone, PBRL Project Director Afzal Hossain said they had requested suspending other work like installation of the gas pipeline, but denied.
The BR has long been requesting the BBA to hand over the bottom tier of the two-tier bridge so that it can complete the rail track placement work before the inauguration of the bridge in June next.
The BBA, however, sought time until March next to let the BR know about the possible time of handing over the bottom tier site.
For now, sources said, the BBA refused BR on excuse of contractor-related complications.
The BR PD, however, said, the decision has been shared with the Ministry of Railway for communicating with the government high-ups as the decision to run both modes of transportation from the inaugural day came from the Prime Minister.
smunima@yahoo.com