Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Thursday said that Dhaka city will witness a massive change by 2030 as the government will implement various projects for improving rail connectivity to ease the traffic situation. “InshaAllah, a different scenario will energe in Dhaka city within 2030 through the rail communication,” she said while inaugurating train movement from Rooppur, Shashidal and Joydebpur railway stations on the newly installed 69.20km railway track under three projects of Bangladesh Railway. Joining virtually from her official residence Ganabhaban the prime minister said the government has already introduced Metro Rail for the city dwellers which will be extended from Uttara to Kamalapur in the near future.
She said that not only overhead, the government also is taking trains underground and for that it has started construction work of the underground rail under MRT-I project. “It (rail) will save commuters’ time and fuel cost as well as much more. Traffic movement in Dhaka city will ease,” she said. She mentioned that the government is formulating its plan keeping that in mind.Railways Minister Md. Nurul Islam Sujan, Acting High Commissioner of India Binoy George and Railways Secretary Md. Humayun Kabir also spoke at the programme. A video documentary on the three projects of Bangladesh Railway was screened at the ceremony.
The prime minister said that her government has constructed Padma Multipurpose Bridge with own financing and kept the rail communication facilities on the bridge. She said that installation works of rail track on the Padma Multipurpose Bridge is going on in full swing. She said that extension of the rail track to Rupdia and Singia of Jashore is progressing. “Besides, two fast track projects are being implemented rapidly to establish rail connectivity with the tourist city of Cox’s Bazar due to the initiative of Awami League government,” she said.
Hasina said the government is also constructing separate rail bridge on the Jamuna river, which is progressing fast. “Those who once opposed the rail connectivity through the Bangabandhu Bridge alongside road communication, they again proposed to construct a separate rail bridge on Jamuna River. Now construction work of the Bangabandhu rail bridge is going on,” she said. She said that construction of Akhaura-Laksam Dual Gauge Double-Line, Dhaka-Tongi 3rd and 4th Dual Gauge Line and Tongi-Joydevpur Dual Gauge Double-Line are under construction.
In addition, she said, the government is constructing Dhaka-Narayanganj dual-gauge line, Bhanga-Barisal-Paira Port railway line, Joydevpur-Ishwardi dual-gauge double-line, Khulna-Darshana dual-gauge double-line, Sirajganj-Bogra dual-gauge railway line. “Moreover, work on Joydevpur-Mymensingh-Jamalpur dual-gauge double-line, Rooppur nuclear power plant rail-link, Akhaura-Agartala railway line, Dhirashram ICD project is in progress,” she said. The prime minister said that for the purpose of transporting goods of Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant, the government took up the project titled “Rehabilitation and Construction of Railway Line with Signaling for Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant” with own funding.
Under which a total of 26.52km railway track including loop-line, Rooppur railway station building, 7 culverts, 13 level crossing gates and signaling-telecom works have been completed. As a result, the project area is connected to other parts of the country by rail, she added.Sheikh Hasina said they undertook the project to upgrade the Dhaka-Chittagong corridor to a double-line. Earlier, out of 321 km of this corridor, 249 km double-line construction has been completed, she said.The project titled “Construction of Dual Gauge Double Rail Line from Akhaura to Laksam and Conversion of Existing Rail Line to Dual Gauge” was taken up with Asian Development Bank and European Investment Bank and self-financing for construction of remaining 72 km double-line.
Mentioning that Laksam-Comilla train service was started earlier, Sheikh Hasina said that now railway double line construction from Shashidal to Rajapur and from Kasba to Mandbagh has been completed which was inaugurated on Thursday . “The double line on the remaining 33 km route will be completed in June this year, Inshallah,” she said. The prime minister also highlighted briefly the development works for railways in the last 14 years.She said that they have constructed 650 km of new railway lines, converted 280 km of meter gauge to dual gauge and rehabilitated/reconstructed 1,297 km of lines.
Besides, 126 new station buildings and 223 station buildings have been rehabilitated/reconstructed, she said.In addition, 732 new railway bridges were constructed while 774 railway bridges rehabilitated or reconstructed alongside rehabilitation of 50 broad gauge and 50 meter gauge passenger coaches. PM Hasina said they have collected 106 locomotives, 20 sets of DEMUs, 535 passenger carriages and 516 freight wagons.They have developed and modernized signaling system at 130 stations, she said, adding that a total of 142 new trains including Mithali Express have been launched on 44 new and extended routes.
