The Chittagong Port Authority (CPA) has sought to build a dedicated railway track for transportation of the increased volume of cargoes to and from Dhaka, officials said.
CPA Chairman Zulfiqur Aziz in a recent letter to the Ministry of Shipping (MoS) requested the authority to take steps for setting up an exclusive railway line for quicker transportation of containers.
"Container transportation by train is much cheaper and faster compared to the same by highways," Mr Aziz told the FE on telephone.
Presently, containers are being transported to and from the port by the lone railway line, on which passenger trains also run.
The other modes of carrying containers and cargoes to and from the port is by roads and waterways.
Using the same railway line for container and passenger trains creates a problem and causes delay, he said.
Mr Aziz said recently a rail-mounted gantry crane was installed at the port for quicker loading and unloading of containers into trains.
Bringing some more rail-mounted gantry cranes is also under plan to make faster the loading and unloading of containers alongside lowering the travel time of trains to and from the port towards different destinations.
The CPA is working on expansion of the capacity by constructing a number of terminals. They include the Bay Terminal, Laldia Terminal, and Patenga Terminal where priority is given to carrying containers by trains instead of other modes of transport.
"If we can transport containers by trains through a dedicated line, we can avoid the severely congested highways," said the CPA chairman.
The country's prime seaport at Chattogram handled 2.56 million TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) of containers in 2017.
According to an estimate, the port's container handling may rise to 2.9 million TEUs in 2020 and 5.6 million TEUs in 2036.
At the same time, the port handled 63.20 million tonnes of cargoes, which may increase to 124 million tonnes in 2043.
"So, we need to be prepared by constructing necessary infrastructure to handle the growing load of containers," Mr Aziz said.
He said a dedicated direct railway track from Chattogram port to Dhaka can be helpful in carrying containers and cargoes quickly.
Businessmen are also interested in carrying containers and cargoes by trains instead of congested highways to save time and money.
However, an absence of necessary infrastructure, including an adequate number of inland container depots (ICDs), discourages them to go for using trains.
Daytime movement of containers and goods-laden trucks from the lone ICD, located at Kamalapur in the capital, is prohibited to prevent further traffic chaos in the city.
As a result, the businesses need to wait until dusk to get their containers on their factory premises, though trains carry them to the ICD in the morning from the port.
A senior railway official told the FE that transportation of containerised cargoes by train will go up significantly after completion of the planned and ongoing infrastructure projects.
Mega projects involving several billion taka are underway as Bangladesh Railway has moved to expand the capacity.
In 2017, Bangladesh Railways carried 72,000 TEUs of cargoes. According to officials, the volume will increase significantly this year.
The railway carried 69,000 TEUs of cargoes in 2016.
syful-islam@outlook.com