Trial run of train on Padma Bridge today

Staff Reporter :
Trains will run experimentally from Bhanga to Mawa and cross the entire Padma Bridge for the first time today.
Local and foreign engineers have completed work on the 6.68 km railway of the bridge.
The work was completed on Wednesday by welding the last seven-metre section of the railway. However, a total of 48 hours were required, which ended Friday afternoon, for the castings to harden and be suitable for train running, according to engineers.
Now, the 6.68 km railway track is currently ready for train movement, they added.
The railway has been constructed maintaining international standards and will be durable for more than hundred years, according to sources.
The rail link will stretch 172km from Dhaka to Jashore. Bangladesh Railway will open the Dhaka-Bhanga section by December this year before the Dhaka-Jashore rail link is launched by Jun 30, 2024.
The ECNEC approved the Padma Bridge Rail Link Project in March 2016. The government estimated the cost of constructing the railway from Dhaka to Jashore would be Tk 349.89 billion.
It will have 20 stations – six already existing and 14 to be constructed.
Work for Bhanga-Mawa section was 99 per cent completed while Mawa-Dhaka section was 75 per cent done, Afzal said.