Revamping Saidpur railway workshop necessary to upgrade Bangladesh rail service

Even after independence in the late seventies and eighties, those who lived in the northern railway town of Saidpur know well the huge blowing of whistles powered by the steam from the power house of Bangladesh’s largest railway workshops situated in 110 acres of land signaling timings for the workers. When in the morning this whistle used to blow covering a distance of several miles, workers in their thousands used to enter the workshop and then again when the final whistle blew in the afternoon they would come out of the workshop in their droves. The roads and alleys of the small town would have been abuzz with footsteps of workers in all directions. Saidpur was regarded as a labour town for its railway workshop.
These scenes now only remain in memory, thanks to gradual reduction in the size of workers and activities of the workshop. Due to lack of adequate manpower, funds and machinery, the workshop now cannot run with its full capacity despite the fact that the railway has grown hugely popular among the travellers in Bangladesh with time. Besides two Eids, even in normal times managing train tickets has become a difficult thing, such has been pressure from travelers for trains.
The workshop now only repairs carriages fit for broad gauge and metre gauge lines of Bangladesh Railway (BR). It also produces the necessary spare parts and tools. But even in the seventies and eighties Saidpur railway workshop could repair 900 carriages and construct 20 new ones each year. This repair work has now come down to, according to a national daily report yesterday, an average of 450 carriages annually. Construction of new carriages has totally stopped.
The subsequent government’s wrong policies on railway, and the saidpur workshop in particular, have brought the workshop to this present precarious state. Negligence to the workshop also spawned huge pilferage of workshop assets. The government is spending huge money to buy carriages from foreign countries. But 50 years after independence, if the workshop was directed in the right direction Bangladesh could well have now stopped dependence on imported carriages altogether that drains away costly foreign exchanges.
Against the present demand of 2,859 employees, only 622 are working. Still, most of the 750 heavy machineries used at the workshop have become outdated while their operation has become limited due to the lack of skilled manpower. The government is telling people about development, but if the country always has to depend on buying even for coaches and carriages for trains from other countries, it will not be development in the real sense of the term.
Bangladesh is a country of 17 crore people and demand for rail communications in the country is growing hugely every day. To meet even the internal demand, Bangladesh railway technology will have to be independent and upgrading Saidpur railway workshop is crucial in this regard.