Bangladesh Railway (BR) has selected four projects as the flagship initiatives of the present government considering their timely implementation crucial for significantly enhancing the country's rail transport capacity.
Officials say the projects would strengthen train operations in both eastern and western railway zones, enabling the state-owned operator to run more passenger and freight trains while reducing travel times and operating costs.
Two of the projects involve the construction of chord rail lines that are expected to substantially shorten travel distances between Dhaka and Chattogram and between North Bengal and Dhaka.
The new links are also expected to facilitate faster freight movement to and from the country's land and sea ports.
The remaining two projects focus on procuring metre-gauge locomotives to address the acute shortage of rolling stock, which has long constrained BR's ability to expand train services on metre-gauge routes.
Railway officials say feasibility studies for all four projects have already been completed and they are now at the planning stage.
They say implementation is unlikely to face financing constraints, allowing physical works to begin once the required approvals are obtained.
The combined estimated cost of the four projects is around Tk 340 billion.
Among them, the proposed Dhaka-Cumilla Chord Line project is estimated to cost more than Tk 180 billion, while the construction of the Bogura-Sirajganj chord line is expected to require around Tk 100 billion.
The two other projects include the procurement of 30 metre-gauge locomotives, along with maintenance equipment, at an estimated cost of Tk 28 billion and the purchase of 200 additional metre-gauge locomotives at a projected cost of Tk 32 billion.
Officials say the Bogura-Sirajganj chord line would shorten the rail distance by about 82 kilometres, reducing travel time between the two points to around two and a half hours.
The Dhaka-Cumilla chord line would reduce the Dhaka-Chattogram rail distance by more than 112 kilometres, cutting journey time by nearly three hours.
According to railway officials, the locomotive procurement projects could be completed within 24 months after contracts are signed with suppliers.
However, the two chord line projects, due to their scale and complexity, are unlikely to be fully completed within the next four years.
"Although the two infrastructure projects may not be completed within the government's current tenure, they are expected to reach an advanced stage as the flagship projects will receive continuous monitoring to expedite implementation," a senior official says, requesting anonymity.
Bangladesh Railway is currently implementing 31 development projects and has proposed another 13 for inclusion in the Annual Development Programme (ADP).
The proposed projects focus on track expansion, gauge unification, procurement of coaches and locomotives, and modernisation of maintenance facilities, with a combined estimated investment of Tk 839.9 billion.
smunima@yahoo.com