Pranab, Hasina jointly open Indian BG locomotives, tank wagons

Visiting Indian President Pranab Mukherjee and Bangladesh Prime Minister (PM) Sheikh Hasina on Tuesday jointly inaugurated the commissioning of broad gauge locomotives and tank wagons of Bangladesh Railway (BR), which were supplied under the Indian Line of Credit (LoC), reports UNB. The Indian President and the Bangladesh PM jointly flagged off a locomotive with 20 tank wagons and one brake van from the Cantonment Station in Dhaka at a simple ceremony in the morning. Director General of BR Mohammad Abu Taher briefed newsmen at the function about the various development activities of BR that has been taken under the Indian LoC. He said that eleven railway projects have already been undertaken at a cost of US$ 630 million out of the US$ 736 million allocated for 14 projects under the one billion dollar Indian LoC. "Two more projects are awaiting inclusion under the Indian LoC," Abu Taher said. He informed that the state-run BR is procuring 26 BG locomotives from Rail India Technical and Economic Services (RITES) against two contracts to replace the age-old locomotives which have crossed their economic life. Bangladesh Railway DG mentioned that the BR is also procuring 165 broad gauge tank wagons with 6 brake vans from Texmaco, India for carrying fuel to different power plants of the Power Development Board (PDB) and others. Following the decision of the joint communiqué signed on January 10, 2010 between Bangladesh and India during PM Sheikh Hasina' s visit to New Delhi, Indian PM Dr Manmohan Singh announced the 1.0 billion dollar Indian LoC for Bangladesh that included railway infrastructure and procurement of broad gauge and meter gauge rolling stock. The loan agreement was signed on August 7 in 2010 between Bangladesh government and EXIM Bank of India in the presence of the then Indian finance minister and currently the President, Pranab Mukherjee. The Railway DG further informed that as per the delivery schedule, the supply of BG locomotives was supposed to commence in April 2013 at the rate of two locomotives per month and BG tank wagon in March-May 2013.