Dhaka-Bhanga train to run on trial for first time through Padma Bridge on 7 September

News Desk :
Train will be operated on a trial basis for the first time on the Dhaka-Banga route through the Padma bridge on Thursday (7 September).

Faridpur’s Bhanga bound train will depart from the Kamalapur Railway Station in Dhaka at 9am on the day, said a press release issued by the Prime Minister’s Office on Monday.

Railway officials on Monday said this trial run will be conducted on the new railway track of about 82 km from Dhaka to Bhanga via Padma Bridge.

Initially, Dhaka, Bhanga, Mawa, Padma, Shibchar and Bhanga railway stations may be opened first after the route is inaugurated, they said.

A pair of trains will be run initially from a week after the inauguration.

After a month, the number of trains will be increased and some more stations will also be opened, according to the officials.

Earlier on 10 June, Railway Minister Nurul Islam Sujan said Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will inaugurate train service on Dhaka-Bhanga route in September this year.

The minister made the disclosure while inaugurating the construction of 87-kilometre section line on Bhanga-Jashore route at Bamankanda railway junction in Faridpur.

The railway earlier on August 31 instructed the officials concerned to ready a train with a locomotive and six carriages at the Kamalapur railway station in Dhaka by 6:00pm on September 6.

The development project proforma of the project was approved by the executive committee of the National Economic Council on May 3, 2016 with a cost of Tk 34,988.8 crore and a timeline of January 1, 2016 to June 30, 2022.

On May 22, 2018, the ECNEC increased the project cost again taking the total cost to Tk 39,246.8 crore.

The ECNEC on the same day also extended its completion deadline by two years to June 2024.

In September 2020, Padma Bridge project officials raised questions about faults in the design of the rail link project at Janjira and Mawa entry points, identifying them as ‘black spots’.