Move to raise BR zones to four from two

The government has taken a move to increase the number of zones of the Bangladesh Railway (BR) to four from existing two for smooth operation of train and container services, sources said.
The Ministry of Railways (MoR) has already drafted the proposal based on a report of a committee which proposed to divide the BR as east, west, north and south zones for operating all its passenger and freight train services.
Presently, East and West Zones, which are divided mainly centering the Jamuna Bridge, manage 2,877.10 kilometre rail routes.
Officials said the move for creating more zones was taken as per directive of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
They said the ministry is still working on the changes to be made in manpower and finance due to increase of the zonal offices.
"We are now working on organogram and preparing budget for sending those to the Finance and the Public Administration Ministries for necessary approval," said a senior official.
He, however, said there would not be any change at the grassroots level due to increase of zonal offices, for example, with regard to number of stations and manpower there.
Only manpower and expenses at zonal offices are likely to increase, the official added.
According to the BR, the two zones now operate 340 trains and 36 freight trains on 2,877 kilometre routes handling 70.83 million passengers and 2.48 millions tonnes of cargoes.
BR officials said the state-owned train operator has long been facing difficulties in managing wider range of mileage from zonal offices. The East Zone covers areas from Dhaka to Chittagong in the south and Sylhet on the north.
"It is often not possible to manage distant Sylhet region from Chittagong as the zonal office is located there. The same happens in case of the West Zone, which covers entire rail line on the other side of Jamuna Bridge and a part up to Joydevpur," said an official.
The government has taken a plan to ensure rail connectivity in all districts of the country and increased its investment by 60 per cent on an average for development of the railway sector.
Though the BR is yet to get its decades-old train services on the right track, it has also taken move to develop rail tracks on missing links, for example, from Chittagong to Cox's Bazar and Dhaka to Barisal and Payra port.
    smunima@yahoo.com