Modernising Bangladesh Railway
Tuesday, 11 March 2008
OF the modern transport systems existing in the country, Bangladesh Railway (BR) is the oldest one. In fact, the railway system of the country is a legacy of the colonial times. Unfortunately though, during all these years the railway has hardly been able to improve its condition ever since the British colonialists handed it over to the native rulers of the land.
It truth be told, Bangladesh railway is still in a primitive stage so far as its technology is concerned. Now, what about the other aspects of this age-old communications system, for example, its culture of serving the clients? Regrettably, the standard of service has really declined compared to what it was in the past. What is worse, the scourge of misuse of resources and other irregularities that had always been a part and parcel of the system, have only become more rampant during the past years. The end result of all these discouraging developments is the railway has to sustain a loss to the tune of US$50 million annually. But then, how does the railway still run in spite of this pitiable scenario? As expected, it is the government subsidy that has been keeping this dying system alive.
Against this backdrop, it is not hard to guess what a desperate straits the railway system of Bangladesh is at the moment in. It can now claim only four per cent share of the total passengers using different modes of transport in the country. Unsurprisingly, it is the road transport that takes the lion's share of those total passengers travelling by the different communications systems. However, it will not be fair to lay all the blame at the railway's door. The focus of the government and the donors, too, had so far been on the development of the road sector, which consumes 85 per cent of the annual transport budget of the government. Small wonder, the road system has grown in the country at the expense of the railway.
Strangely though, when the Bangladesh railway is in its death throes, it has meanwhile grown to be to the fastest and most successful mode of land-based transport in the world. What provides further edge to the modern railways is the state of the art technology that it is equipped with. But these are the stories of railway's development in the highly advanced countries. One need not really go that far to see railway's success. The success of neighbouring India's railway, which inherits the same legacy as ours, is a glaring example of what a mess we have made of our railway system.
The refreshing news is the government has now turned its attention to the railway. To salvage the railway from the time warp it is trapped into, it would be necessary to overhaul the system lock, stock and barrel. And to achieve that end, modernisation of its material façade is not enough. The multilateral donor agency, the World Bank (WB), in 2006 provided the first instalment of its policy credit worth US$40 million for effecting management reform in the railway. Now it is pressing the government for drafting a law to corporatise the railway under the state's ownership. The second tranche of WB's policy credit is due in the fiscal 2008-09, the disbursement of which, however, is contingent upon the government's framing of necessary law to turn the BR into a corporate entity.
All concerned would like to share the hope that once corporatised, the railway would be enabled to turn itself into a fully-fledged business company under state control. But old habits die hard. The ghosts of old, whose undoing is the present state of the railway, are not supposed to accept the change without lifting a finger. In fact, the way to overcome that reaction to change would be the litmus test for the success of this move to modernise the railway.
It truth be told, Bangladesh railway is still in a primitive stage so far as its technology is concerned. Now, what about the other aspects of this age-old communications system, for example, its culture of serving the clients? Regrettably, the standard of service has really declined compared to what it was in the past. What is worse, the scourge of misuse of resources and other irregularities that had always been a part and parcel of the system, have only become more rampant during the past years. The end result of all these discouraging developments is the railway has to sustain a loss to the tune of US$50 million annually. But then, how does the railway still run in spite of this pitiable scenario? As expected, it is the government subsidy that has been keeping this dying system alive.
Against this backdrop, it is not hard to guess what a desperate straits the railway system of Bangladesh is at the moment in. It can now claim only four per cent share of the total passengers using different modes of transport in the country. Unsurprisingly, it is the road transport that takes the lion's share of those total passengers travelling by the different communications systems. However, it will not be fair to lay all the blame at the railway's door. The focus of the government and the donors, too, had so far been on the development of the road sector, which consumes 85 per cent of the annual transport budget of the government. Small wonder, the road system has grown in the country at the expense of the railway.
Strangely though, when the Bangladesh railway is in its death throes, it has meanwhile grown to be to the fastest and most successful mode of land-based transport in the world. What provides further edge to the modern railways is the state of the art technology that it is equipped with. But these are the stories of railway's development in the highly advanced countries. One need not really go that far to see railway's success. The success of neighbouring India's railway, which inherits the same legacy as ours, is a glaring example of what a mess we have made of our railway system.
The refreshing news is the government has now turned its attention to the railway. To salvage the railway from the time warp it is trapped into, it would be necessary to overhaul the system lock, stock and barrel. And to achieve that end, modernisation of its material façade is not enough. The multilateral donor agency, the World Bank (WB), in 2006 provided the first instalment of its policy credit worth US$40 million for effecting management reform in the railway. Now it is pressing the government for drafting a law to corporatise the railway under the state's ownership. The second tranche of WB's policy credit is due in the fiscal 2008-09, the disbursement of which, however, is contingent upon the government's framing of necessary law to turn the BR into a corporate entity.
All concerned would like to share the hope that once corporatised, the railway would be enabled to turn itself into a fully-fledged business company under state control. But old habits die hard. The ghosts of old, whose undoing is the present state of the railway, are not supposed to accept the change without lifting a finger. In fact, the way to overcome that reaction to change would be the litmus test for the success of this move to modernise the railway.