Cox’s Bazar rail link to boost tourism, industrialisation
News Desk :
Tourist town Cox’s Bazar, having the world’s longest sandy beach, is going to enter a new era of railway connectivity as Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will formally open tomorrow the long-cherished 102-km Chattogram-Dohazari-Cox’s Bazar dual-gauge single railway line and iconic oyster-shaped Cox’s Bazar station here with a marine atmosphere at first sight, reports BSS.
“All preparations have been completed for the opening of the fast-track mega railway project, implemented at a cost of Taka 18034.47 crore and financed by Asian Development Bank and Bangladesh government, as trial runs were done successfully on Tuesday,” Dohazari-Cox’s Bazar Railway Project director Md Suboktagin told BSS.
Following the inauguration, commercial operations on the new railway line, which is a part of Trans-Asian Railway (TAR) network and will improve access to Myanmar and beyond, will commence in December.
As per the premier’s programme schedule, she formally inaugurates the train service at the newly built Cox’s Bazar railway station at 11am. She begins journey by train on the new railway line from Cox’s Bazar station for Ramu station at 12pm. Later, she goes to Ramu cantonment by road at 12.20pm. From there, the premier goes towards Matarbari Deep Sea Port Channel at Maheshkhali upazila of Cox’s Bazar to join the inaugural ceremony of the channel at 2.30pm.
Sheikh Hasina, also Awami League (AL) president, addresses a public meeting at Matarbari Thermal Power Plant Project’s township ground at 3.15pm under the arrangement of AL’s Maheshkhali Upazila unit.
Tourists can leave their luggage in the station lockers and spend the day at the beach or go for sightseeing as 46,000 people can move through this station per day, Ashek Ullah Rafiq MP added.
During the project’s second phase, the rail line will be extended to the Myanmar border as well as the deep-sea port on Matarbari Island. The extended part will have two stations – Ukhia and Ghumdhum.
It will have 9 computer based interlock signal systems, 9 digital telecommunication systems.
Bridges have been constructed over Sangu, Matamuhuri and Bakkhali rivers. Apart from this, there are 43 small bridges, 201 culverts, a flyover in Keuchia area of Satkania, 144 level crossings and two highway crossings in Ramu and Cox’s Bazar areas.
