Bangladesh Railway (BR) has taken a move to develop a new double-gauge track along the Joydebpur-Mymensingh-Jamalpur railway line on high passenger demand.
Officials said the BR submitted a proposal to the Planning Commission (PC) for conducting a feasibility study on the new track from Joydebpur to Jamalpur.
At present, the BR has a dual-gauge track from Dhaka's Kamalapur station to Tongi. Both broad and metre-gauge trains run out it.
The officials said the project evaluation committee already reviewed the technical project proposal in a meeting on August 16, but it recommended separating the detailed design work from the proposal.
The BR submitted its proposal to conduct the feasibility study along with the detailed design work involving Tk 212.90 million under the government's own fund. But the Planning Commission recommended carrying out the feasibility study only and placing another project for the detailed design work as it may be completed with funding from development partners.
The BR has already cut the cost by almost a half.
According to the BR, more than 50,000 passengers travel by train through the Joydebpur-Jamalpur corridor every day with the demand rising due to a boom in trade and business in the areas.
"There was no doubt about the high passenger demand on the Joydebpur-Mymensingh-Jamalpur corridor as it is the main link with the rail lines running to north and south-western parts of the country as well as connectivity within greater Mymensingh zone," said a senior official.
He said due to a shift in the people's choice that favours trains for long-distance travel, almost all the existing trains on this corridor now experience 'non-counter' passengers almost every day.
Usually, 'non-counter' passengers travel on the rooftops of trains as they cannot get seats or space in coaches.
According to the BR, 38 trains carrying more than 50,000 passengers are now running on the Joydebpur-Mymensingh-Jamalpur route every day.
On an average, each train has the capacity to carry 1,000 passengers.
Md Mufazzal, a regular passenger travelling on the route, said almost all the trains have to wait more than one and a half hours at different stations and points due to the single track.
Mufazzal, also a film director, said this corridor is becoming more and more important due to industrial growth along the corridor including Mohonganj and increase in trade and business activities including fisheries.
The officials said BR planned to conduct the feasibility study on availability of land along the corridor on which the new track can be set up easily.
smunima@yahoo.com