Passengers unlikely to reap benefits of direct train service soon

Passengers are unlikely to get benefit from direct train service after launching the Dohazari-Cox's Bazar rail line in a couple of years as two key barriers still stand in the way of operating trains in a 10-kilometre rail corridor.
The barriers are Kalurghat Bridge and the conversion of 50-kilometre track into dual gauge from Dohazari to Chattogram railway station.
Sources said though the Bangladesh Railway is trying its best to complete the Tk 180.34-billion Dohazari-Cox's Bazar rail link project by 2024, it could not make much progress in starting these two supporting projects.
Kalurghat bridge is supposed to replace the British-era road-cum- rail bridge which has already been declared abandoned. The dual broad gauge line from Chattogram to Dohazari is necessary to establish direct links with the rest of the country.
Sources said the construction work of Kalurghat Bridge has been delayed as it took too much time to conduct the study because the BR is yet to take decision whether the bridge would be a dedicated rail bridge or a road-cum-rail bridge.
"Over seven years have already passed. And feasibility studies were done twice to take the decision in this regard. Apart from it, time had gone to come to an agreement on single or double line track or dual gauge-line bridge. It is still hanging in balance," said a source.
BR officials said the consultants of the Korean government-funded project are now studying again to finalise the design as the government has recently asked all concerned to raise the height of all bridges above 12.2 metres for smooth navigation. Earlier, Kalurghat bridge was designed with nearly 8.0-metre navigation clearance.
The BR has been implementing the Dohazari-Cox's Bazar rail link project since 2016 with lots of challenges which forced the project office to reset the deadline two times. But sources said the missing link between Dohazari and Chattogram was not taken into consideration.
The BR officials said the feasibility study on the Dohazari-Chattogram rail line conversion project has been completed and they are now looking for funding.
They also said as the study done under a technical project is to find out all the missing links on Dhaka-Chattogram-Cox's Bazar rail corridor with financial support from Asian Development Bank, the Manila-based lending agency might fund the project
But it may take at least two years to take the project at field level, said a source.

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