The Bangladesh Railway (BR) will buy 125 luggage vans almost 40 years after its last purchase of the same to improve goods transportation in line with the country's economic growth.
A contract to buy 50 broad-gauge and 75 metre-gauge luggage vans at a cost of Tk 3.58 billion was signed with a Chinese company at Rail Bhaban on Monday.
Project director Moham-mad Mizanur Rhaman and deputy general manager of marketing department at China National Technical Import and Export Corporation Yang Bing signed the contract on behalf of respective sides.
Railways minister Mohammad Nurul Islam Sujon witnessed the signing ceremony.
Briefing the media after the signing ceremony, Mr Sujon, however, said the railway has not made any plan to increase train fare.
A committee, which was formed a long ago on train fare, shared their views in a meeting which was wrongly described in the media.
Mr Sujon said plan to buy luggage vans was made with the support of the Asian Development Bank as part of an effort to bring significant changes in rail services.
This improvement is part of developing passenger services, expansion of railway and reforms side by side goods transportation, he added.
The BR has been managing freight service with its aged-old 55 metre-gauge and 10 broad-gauge luggage vans.
The last purchase of the vans was made in the 1980s.
As per the deal, the Chinese firm will start supplying the vans 20 months after the date of signing and complete the process in 27 months.
After the arrival of new vans, the BR's capacity to transport goods, including perishables, in different parts of the country would be improved significantly.
The van will have facilities like air-conditioning and automatic air break with high speed.
A tender for purchasing 50 board-gauge and 75 metre-gauge luggage vans was called on July 08, 2018.
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