The government has decided to boost the railway link between Dhaka and the nearby city of Narayanganj by constructing a dual-gauge double-track line for smooth travel of the passengers, specially the office-going commuters, officials said Sunday.
The Bangladesh Railway (BR), the state-owned railway service provider, has been looking for Tk3.76 billion worth of soft loans from the bilateral and multilateral donors working in Bangladesh, for starting the construction work.
Dhaka-Narayanganj is one of the busiest routes for the railway as it carries thousands of passengers daily to and from the capital city.
The BR has recently sent the Preliminary Development Project Proposal (PDPP) to the Economic Relations Division (ERD) for finding out funds from the external sources to build the double-track railway line.
A BR official said they would construct the double-line dual-gauge track for ensuring regular trains and commuter train between Dhaka and Narayanganj.
A senior BR official said that if they could set up the dual-gauge line, they would introduce many commuter trains between the capital and the adjacent city Narayanganj to reduce the pressure on Dhaka city.
"After introducing commuter trains, the job-holders in the capital will be able to reside outside Dhaka city and easily reach to their working place in the capital within an hour from Narayanganj," he added.
"We have a target to construct the Dhaka-Narayanganj railway track by June 2016. We need the financial support from the donors or from the government," the official told the FE.
Prior to sending the 'fund search' request to the ERD, we have received approval of the PDPP from the Planning Minister," he added.
The existing Dhaka-Narayanganj railway section has metre-gauge (MG) line where the number of trains is not adequate. After setting up the dual-gauge double line this railway section would be the busiest one, he said.
The government has invested a record Tk142.49 billion worth of funds in its last five years' tenure between the financial year (FY) 2009-10 and FY2013-14 for improving the wobbly Bangladesh Railway.
BR handles approximately 7.0 per cent of the national passenger and freight traffic. It carries its maximum number of passengers between Chittagong and Dhaka, the nation's most important transport corridor.
The Railway covers a length of around 2,855 route kilometres employing a total of nearly 34,168 regular employees.
