Bangladesh Railway (BR) is still struggling to provide necessary services to its users properly, although the authority has spent billions of taka over the recent years keeping the target in mind, said officials and service recipients.
Operational status of the state-owned service provider has slightly improved as far as maintaining schedule of incoming and outgoing trains is concerned, but its financial health is deteriorating, they added.
According to BR officials, the cheapest mode of transportation is being operated by 272 meter-gauge and broad-gauge locomotives, and over 70 per cent of them have lost their economic life many years ago.
The condition of the coaches is almost the same, and it is enhancing operational cost and risk manifold, they added.
The government formed Ministry of Railways in 2011 to enhance coverage and services of the mass transportation system in the densely-populated country.
Simultaneously, a master-plan was also formulated to this effect.
Seeking anonymity, a BR official said they have been providing their services amid various risks, like accident, failure en route, weak power and hauling capacity, with the over-aged engines.
He said these also trigger many other problems, including higher fuel cost, environment pollution, greater maintenance expense, unavailability of spare parts, and high downtime.
"The government has enhanced investment for railway sector. But increased fuel consumption and maintenance cost of the old engines are eating up a good chunk of the investment."
Giving an example, he said BR bought 21 meter-gauge locomotives of 2700 Series from Germany several decades ago, and now Tk 2.56 billion is required for repairing those.
"We need to replace these locomotives with new ones, and enhance management skills. Otherwise, the gap between BR's income and spending will keep widening," he added.
According to the statistics, the government spent more than Tk 352 billion from its development budget for the transportation system from financial year (FY) 2009-2010 to December of the ongoing FY, 2018-19.
In FY 10, the aggregate loss of BR was calculated Tk 5.84 billion. It kept increasing gradually, and stood at Tk 13.90 billion in FY 17.
The organisation recently signed an agreement involving Tk 11.23 billion with an US-based manufacturer for procuring 40 broad-gauge diesel-electric locomotives, and another deal for buying 80 other meter-gauge locomotives.
Talking to the FE, BR general manager and project director Md Harun-ar-Rashid said many of the problems will be solved once they get the locomotives.
Besides, 200 meter-gauge passenger coaches and 50 broad-gauge coaches will be purchased very soon, which will significantly increase their capacity.
"Most of the coaches and locomotives will be used for carrying passengers to cope with the growing demand of commuters," he added.
When contacted, Railways Minister Md. Nurul Islam Sujan said he has joined office as the minister less than two weeks ago. During this short period he has realised that there are many problems that are affecting performance of the transportation system.
He said the government adopted a master-plan for 20 years involving Tk 2.4 trillion to make railway the safest and most trusted mode of transportation.
Terming railways one of the key transportation systems that can play a major role in Bangladesh's development plan, he said they have to increase both capacity and efficiency of its cargo transportation service.
To improve BR's service, they will try to get more funds from the government and the development partners. The government wants to link railways with all economic hubs - ports and economic zones, to create an integrated and fast goods transportation network.
"I'm now trying to understand these issues properly. Give me some time, I will keep talking with the officials and experts concerned to know more about the problems and find out their solutions," he added.
