At last some good news on the railway front! Renovation of the Pahartali railway workshop is likely give a mighty boost to the Bangladesh Railway (BR) to tide over its sorry state. The largest of the country's railway workshops, Pahartali was left to a state of unpardonable neglect for ages. The decision to modernise it will hopefully pump fresh blood into the withered veins of the BR, particularly into its east zone network. The workshop, according to media reports, is being renovated for the first time since independence.
The Pahartali railway workshop was once well-known for its capacity to cater to the endless repair works and maintenance needs of the BR with its anything-but-modern machineries and equipment. It will now undergo significant upgradation under a project funded by Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). The project, meant to substantially modernise the workshop, has raised hopes that once the planned activities are completed, it will be able to render services to the fleet of around two hundred trains plying in the east zone.
It cannot be denied that in spite of its being the most convenient mode of communication, railway in this country has never been used to its potential. With its basic infrastructure tracing back to more than a hundred years, the BR has perhaps suffered more neglect than any other service sector since independence. The all-important move to activate the sector took place in the mid-eighties when for the first time some dynamic steps led to a revamping of sorts. This resulted in remarkable improvements in terms of increased number of locomotives, introduction of inter-city trains with a reasonably good maintenance of time-tables, near-perfect ticketing arrangements, improved signalling and so on. But to the shock of many, the drive was short-lived and in little over a decade, the entire sector was left to wear out as though deliberately. Scores of development projects were shelved or abandoned halfway without follow-up.
Utter neglect has rendered the railway what it is today - no longer able to respond to makeshift initiatives to keep it going. In a small country where places can be easily negotiated by road transports - ramshackle buses for the commoners and super luxury air-conditioned coaches for the well-to-do - the prospect of the railway cannot still be challenged, although common perception goes that railway is sustainable only in a big country. The reality, however, is that road transport cannot and must not be conceived as an alternative to railways. At its best, it can be a very poor proxy.
Despite the adversities that the sector is fraught with, it looks as though the government, of late, is keen to bring some improvements. These, among others, include double tracking in important sections, extension of loop lines, rehabilitation of yards, etc. The planned activities for modernising the railway workshops, coupled with skilled technical manpower, will surely rejuvenate the BR in being more and more functional as the most efficient mode of mass transportation.
Modernising railway workshops
FE Team | Published: June 22, 2015 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2026 06:01:00
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