A donor-financed project for converting Akhaura-Sylhet railway corridor, which also connects Dhaka and Chattogram, to dual-gauge track has long been laid off and a bid is now underway to redo it.
Official sources said the conversion scheme was taken up to upgrade the section to dual-gauge single-line track.
But four ministers from the region later felt that it should be made dual-gauge double-line track to be able to take the load of high traffic generated by three important cities -- the capital city, Dhaka, the port city of Chattogram and the tourist-city Sylhet.
As such, a fresh feasibility study has been launched to incorporate an additional line to the corridor -- five years after the first project was conceived, the sources said.
And doing this over again involves additional funds, too.
The rail-upgrading story runs like this: A move has been made to develop a new line to facilitate two dual-gauge-track facility from Akhaura to Sylhet although a project to convert the existing metre-gauge line on the corridor has yet to be started after five years of effort.
Sources said the Bangladesh Railway (BR) has now prepared a technical project to conduct feasibility study to gauge the viability of developing dual-gauge double-line track on its Akhaura-Sylhet corridor in parallel to the existing metre-gauge single-line track.
But, they said, the BR is yet to start the existing line-upgradation project which was supposed to convert the metre-gauge line to dual-gauge one with funding under government-to-government arrangement.
The BR took up the first project to convert 225 kilometres of metre-gauge
line to dual gauge at a cost of Tk 161.04 billion. The project was approved by the Planning Commission in 2016 while the ECNEC gave the go on April 09, 2019 after getting Chinese concurrence to provide 66.16 per cent of the cost.
But the project has yet to take off.
Source, however, now say the first project was taken amid controversy over costing high on the conversion of the track. Also another point of dissent was developing single dual-gauge track when the Akhaura-Sylhet corridor is high traffic-generating line for being connected with the two other main cities -- Dhaka and Chattogram.
BR sources said the existing-line- conversion project was taken amid guidance from a quarter, which was later criticised on two counts: high cost and plan to construct single track.
"But the project is yet to start for not completing the negotiations," said one source.
Per-kilometre track-conversion cost in the Akhaura-Sylhet existing line was found five to six times higher than that of similar rail projects. The conversion project was included in BR's annual development programme for fiscal year 2020-21.
They said the new project was being undertaken due to demand from four ministers who recently requested the railway minister through Demo Office (DO) letter to develop dual-gauge double-line track on the country's important rail corridor.
"it has always been felt the need of dual- gauge double-line track on the Akhaura-Sylhet line. But the study will now help the BR to find the viability of the project when the first project is yet not stopped," said an official, preferring not to be named.
He said the technical project proposal has been prepared with the target to conduct the feasibility study along with detailed design at a cost of Tk 586.5 million with the target to complete it by 2024.
The ministers moving for double-line track are for planning, foreign, environment, forest and climate change, and expatriate welfare and overseas employment, sources said.
They, in separate letters, requested considering the demand for better upgradation of the corridor, vital for tourism and trade, so that modern trains with standard facilities can be introduced on the Dhaka-Sylhet and Sylhet-Chattogram routes.
The four also suggested establishment of double lines instead of the single-line track which was taken up for upgrading under the existing dormant project.
The Akhaura-Sylhet railway section under the eastern zone of railways stretches along 176.60 kilometres with 34 stations. It connects seven administrative districts located in the northeastern part of Bangladesh, besides its interconnections.
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