CHATTOGRAM, Dec 01: Bangladesh Railway (BR) completed feasibility study report of launching bullet train on Dhaka- Chattogram route in November.
China Railway Design Corporation of China and Majumdar Enterprise of Bangladesh have jointly completed the feasibility study.
Currently, the two companies are working to prepare the design of bullet train project.
Using bullet trains on Dhaka- Chattogram route, passengers will reach Chattogram from Dhaka within only 55 minutes, and vice versa.
Now passengers need six hours to travel between the two destinations.
The speed of the bullet train will be 300 kilometres (km) per hour. The rail line distance of Dhaka to Chattogram is 321 km now. But, the new rail lines which will be constructed for bullet trains will be 227 km. Thus, the distance will be decreased by 94 km for bullet trains.
There will be six stations for bullet trains. These are Dhaka, Naryanganj, Cumilla, Feni, Pahartoli and Chattogram. But, it is yet to be decided whether the bullet train will touch all six stations or not.
The new rail lines will need 668.24 hectares of land. The BR will acquire 464.2 hectares of land for the bullet train project while rest will be BR's own lands.
The approved budget for feasibility test and design was Tk 1.006929 billion (Tk 100 crore and 69 lac and 29,000). The duration for the feasibility test and design was from January 01, 2017 to March 31, 2019. But it was delayed for various reasons.
The bullet train project was approved by ECNEC in 2017. Chief Engineer of BR Eastern Zone Mohammed Sabuktagin said that the expert engineers of China Railway Design Corporation from China will approve the design in January next.
The feasibility test and design will cost around Tk 1.0 billion.
Project Director (PD) of Bullet Train Project Md Kamrul Hasan said, "We can complete all works of the design in January next. After completing the design, we will submit it for final approval. After finalisation of the design we can say about the total expenditure of budget for the project."
ABM Fazle Karim Chowdhury MP, the chairman of parliamentary standing committee of the railway ministry said, "The communication system will be totally changed after the launching of the bullet trains in Bangladesh. The high speed train will change trade and commerce as it can carry around 50,000 passengers every day."
"We are aiming to complete the project within minimum time period. The concerned officials are working hard in this regard," the lawmaker added.
nazim07@yahoo.com