Five locomotives for BR unloaded at ctg port

Our Correspondent CHITTAGONG, Oct 7: Bangladesh Railway will add to its fleet five more locomotives procured from South Korea in a bid to enhance its carrying capacity. The Railway authorities have unloaded five engines from a Korean flag vessel at Chittagong Port this afternoon, the last consignment of nine locomotives. Chief Mechanical Engineer of Bangladesh Railway Eastern Zone Akhtaruzzaman Haider said, all five locomotives have been unloaded at the port jetty at 4.45 pm and they will be brought to the Railway diesel workshop tomorrow. With these five engines the BR Eastern now has a total of 146. Four other locomotives of the same consignment reached Railway workshop at Pahartali on August 2, he said. Bangladesh Railway has procured the locomotives from the Korean giant Hyundai Co at the cost of Tk 2180 million. Authorities have said the BR is suffering from severe shortage of locomotives against the growing demand for railway service from the people. Eleven more locomotives are expected to be procured soon, sources said adding that the Tk 2900 million-project is expected to be funded by JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency) and Bangladesh government.