Railway too in bad shape
Sagar Biswas :
When government has taken massive initiatives to digitalise country’s communication sector, the Bangladesh Railway is providing substandard service to passengers and maintaining outdated analog system in different stations. Public suffering is another name of railways. In fact, the service of BR has not yet improved to the desired level though a huge number of passengers prefer train journey due to bad condition of roads and highways.
The BR, in the last few years, took a number of ambitious projects to modernise this sector, but most of the projects failed to meet its target standard level due to widespread corruption and mismanagement. As a result, once the most profitable railway sector is now losing revenue each and every year.
In this situation, the BR is importing 270 first class new passenger bogies in January next year. Of them, 120 carriages would be brought from India and the rest 150 from Indonesia, officials said on Monday.
“We have taken massive plan to provide upgraded service to the passengers. As our plan, we will ensure sufficient tickets to the passengers and keep schedule of every train. Already we have conducted operation against the ticket black marketers,” Md Firoj Salahuddin, Secretary, Ministry of Railways, told The New Nation last night.
Interestingly, the Railways Secretary tried to focus ‘bright side’ of the sector, whereas the real scenario of railway is totally different.
Corruption in railway, from petty clerk to top brass, is a major headache for the government. Despite a hike of fare, the BR is losing revenue continuously. It also failed to improve service by providing DEMU [diesel electric multiple unit] trains, as most of the coaches and engines are low-standard allegedly imported from China.
Elaborating the new plan, the Secretary said: “The government is importing 270 coaches from India and Indonesia to upgrade the passenger service. The coaches will start coming in phase from January and it will continue till December that year. Apart from this, we have taken initiatives to develop the railway tracks. Except a few kilometers at Comilla, the entire Dhaka-Chittagong line is double tracked. Initiatives have been taken to make the Comilla portion double.”
About improving service to passengers, the Railway Secretary said that the concerned ministry has issued directives to all officials and station managers to strictly maintain punctuality and discipline to keep trains in schedule.
Meanwhile, the failure of Railways Ministry about implementation of Chittagong-Cox’s Bazar rail line has become a major concern of thousands of commuters in this region. In winter season, around one million tourists visit Cox’s Bazar to enjoy sunbath in world’s longest sea beach. But the concerned ministry failed to implement the project till the date for reasons best known to them.
“There was some problem about its financing [Chittagong- Cox’s Bazar rail line]. Now everything is settled. Hope, the works of Chittagong- Cox’s Bazar train line will start from June next year. Asian Development bank (ADB) will provide finance to the multi-million dollar project,” the Railways Secretary said.
“The project has already been sent to Planning Commission. It will be placed before ECNEC [Executive Committee of the National Economic Council] after getting nod from Planning Commission. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has instructed to build it a dual gauge rail line as it could provide non-stop service from North Bengal. The base works, including alignment work and land acquisition for the track, have already started,” he said.
The allegations of mismanagement in railway sector, however, are never ending. The goods and materials of railways are not properly kept in store. Diesel and other fuel are usually purchased two to three times more than its actual consumption while hundreds of liters of oil are sold in black market by a section of employees every day.
Illegal lease of railway land is another big business of some officials. Besides, some organized gangs steel railway tracks and other metal in open day light.
When contacted, Railways Minister Md Mujibul Haque told The New Nation last night that the passengers will be benefited after the development projects are completed. “We are trying hard to provide better service to passengers…. Just wait and see.”
When government has taken massive initiatives to digitalise country’s communication sector, the Bangladesh Railway is providing substandard service to passengers and maintaining outdated analog system in different stations. Public suffering is another name of railways. In fact, the service of BR has not yet improved to the desired level though a huge number of passengers prefer train journey due to bad condition of roads and highways.
The BR, in the last few years, took a number of ambitious projects to modernise this sector, but most of the projects failed to meet its target standard level due to widespread corruption and mismanagement. As a result, once the most profitable railway sector is now losing revenue each and every year.
In this situation, the BR is importing 270 first class new passenger bogies in January next year. Of them, 120 carriages would be brought from India and the rest 150 from Indonesia, officials said on Monday.
“We have taken massive plan to provide upgraded service to the passengers. As our plan, we will ensure sufficient tickets to the passengers and keep schedule of every train. Already we have conducted operation against the ticket black marketers,” Md Firoj Salahuddin, Secretary, Ministry of Railways, told The New Nation last night.
Interestingly, the Railways Secretary tried to focus ‘bright side’ of the sector, whereas the real scenario of railway is totally different.
Corruption in railway, from petty clerk to top brass, is a major headache for the government. Despite a hike of fare, the BR is losing revenue continuously. It also failed to improve service by providing DEMU [diesel electric multiple unit] trains, as most of the coaches and engines are low-standard allegedly imported from China.
Elaborating the new plan, the Secretary said: “The government is importing 270 coaches from India and Indonesia to upgrade the passenger service. The coaches will start coming in phase from January and it will continue till December that year. Apart from this, we have taken initiatives to develop the railway tracks. Except a few kilometers at Comilla, the entire Dhaka-Chittagong line is double tracked. Initiatives have been taken to make the Comilla portion double.”
About improving service to passengers, the Railway Secretary said that the concerned ministry has issued directives to all officials and station managers to strictly maintain punctuality and discipline to keep trains in schedule.
Meanwhile, the failure of Railways Ministry about implementation of Chittagong-Cox’s Bazar rail line has become a major concern of thousands of commuters in this region. In winter season, around one million tourists visit Cox’s Bazar to enjoy sunbath in world’s longest sea beach. But the concerned ministry failed to implement the project till the date for reasons best known to them.
“There was some problem about its financing [Chittagong- Cox’s Bazar rail line]. Now everything is settled. Hope, the works of Chittagong- Cox’s Bazar train line will start from June next year. Asian Development bank (ADB) will provide finance to the multi-million dollar project,” the Railways Secretary said.
“The project has already been sent to Planning Commission. It will be placed before ECNEC [Executive Committee of the National Economic Council] after getting nod from Planning Commission. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has instructed to build it a dual gauge rail line as it could provide non-stop service from North Bengal. The base works, including alignment work and land acquisition for the track, have already started,” he said.
The allegations of mismanagement in railway sector, however, are never ending. The goods and materials of railways are not properly kept in store. Diesel and other fuel are usually purchased two to three times more than its actual consumption while hundreds of liters of oil are sold in black market by a section of employees every day.
Illegal lease of railway land is another big business of some officials. Besides, some organized gangs steel railway tracks and other metal in open day light.
When contacted, Railways Minister Md Mujibul Haque told The New Nation last night that the passengers will be benefited after the development projects are completed. “We are trying hard to provide better service to passengers…. Just wait and see.”
