Against the backdrop of unprecedented chaos on the country's roads and highways, the need for the railway to become the prime transport mode is being increasingly felt. The commuters are now willing to travel by trains, but the popular mode of transport is shed its age-old inertia.
There is no denying that the Bangladesh Railways (BR) potentially offers cheaper, safer and more fuel-efficient means of transport of goods and passengers than roads. But this mode of transport has long been held back by lack of investment coupled with aging and unreliable rolling stock.
Even after so many years of liberation, a comprehensive integrated railway system has not been developed. Proper link between two zones (East and West) could not be established as yet. The country's apex trade body, the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI), is now stressing on the overall development of the railway sector. The apex trade body leaders have called upon the authorities to add more goods trains to the fleet on different routes to facilitate trade and business acivities.
As long queues of goods-laden trucks have created unprecedented tailbacks on the highways, movement of goods and daily necessities throughout the country has become very difficult. Worst, perishable goods become useless as they rot in the perilously lengthy journey.
In fact, operation of more trains on the Dhaka-Chattogram route is now a necessity. More cargo wagons should be added to the existing ones for transportation of goods. There is a need for introducing fast train services connecting important places with Chattogram and Mongla seaports as well as Benapole landport.
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has recently approved $360 million as loan to Bangladesh for supporting its ongoing reform in the railway sector. The money will also be used to buy modern rolling stock for Bangladesh Railway and promote an overall shift from roads to rail.
The ADB Railway Rolling Stock Operations Improvement Project is expected to boost the operational performance of Bangladesh Railway by introducing new technology, equipment and processes that will be more efficient and cleaner.
Meantime, the revised master plan of the BR was also finalised after sharing opinions with all stakeholders and reviewing the reports with an investment outlay of Tk 5.10 trillion until 2045 for making the train commuter system efficient for both passenger and freight servicing.
The railway master plan envisages segmenting its development plan into five phases until 2045 -- each with five-year tenure. Priorities have also been set in the planned projects. Such projects have been designed to increase the railway track efficiency, gradual up-gradation and conversation from metre gauge to broad gauge, improve carriage and locomotive maintenance capacity, develop institutional capacity etc.
The Padma Bridge Rail Link project received top priority in the proposal. Introducing high-speed trains on Dhaka-Chottogram corridor and Joydevpur-Dhaka-Narayanganj route was reported to be included later, after getting the results of a feasibility study.
All these measures are aimed at raising the share of the railway with other transportation modes -- mainly roads. However, the master plan has apparently failed to assess the need of converting or installing standard gauge rail track.
Since the Padma Bridge will change the entire transportation network, more maintenance workshops for the railway need to be built for ancillary services to the upcoming train communications in the busiest rail corridor. After construction of the Padma Bridge, the railway communications with south-western Bangladesh and cross-border transport will be strengthened manifold.
The new challenge ahead of the BR is to eliminate a number of structural and physical weaknesses it had inherited as part of its legacy, since it was never designed to serve the modern-day communication needs. With better management efficiency, it is possible to remove all odds facing the railway. The government should not go for another fare hike right now, which will make the railway unpopular among the masses.
The consistency in the rail track with other neighbouring countries is also necessary to establish regional corridors as BR has signed agreement to be a part of trans-Asian railway as well as other regional blocs.
