Scheduled trains' trial on new Jamuna bridge soon
MUNIMA SULTANA | Friday, 10 January 2025
All scheduled trains to and from Dhaka as well as the railway's western zone areas will soon run on the newly-built Jamuna railway bridge on a trial basis before the structure's formal inauguration.
Officials said about 38 trains now running on the existing Jamuna Multipurpose Bridge would be operated on one of the dual-gauge double lines of the new bridge as trial runs on that were successful.
"We are waiting for the Department of Railway Inspection's approval to start trial runs of all trains on the new Jamuna railway bridge," said Project Director Al Fattah Mohammad Masudur Rahman.
The up line would initially be used for train operations, he said, adding the other one would be opened after shifting the lines from the existing road-rail bridge.
Railways Secretary Md Fahimul Islam told The Financial Express the new 4.8km bridge would be formally inaugurated later, adding the Japan International Cooperation Agency's (JICA) president is expected to visit Bangladesh in March.
Bangladesh Railway took on the project to build a new dedicated rail bridge over the Jamuna River after the existing one turned unfit for train operations. The construction began in August 2020 with financial support from JICA. The project cost increased to Tk 167.80 billion from Tk 97.34 billion after the contractor was selected. The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council earlier approved the project on December 6, 2016.
Bangladesh Railway conducted the first trial run with limited coaches at 40km per hour on November 25 last year and 120km per hour on January 5, 2025. At 120km, trains cross the river in just four minutes.
Thirty-eight trains currently move at a speed of 20km per hour on the existing bridge, taking around 20 minutes to cross the river. All trains have to wait for a total of 45-50 minutes at the two stations on both sides of the bridge to cross the river.
The new bridge will reduce the time to cross the river to five to six minutes, allowing trains to run at a speed of 100-120 kilometres per hour. It will also be able to accommodate 88 trains daily.