Money wasted in ‘poor’
railway project
Kamran Reza Chowdhury
The 90-pound rail can carry a
maximum of 22.5-tonne axle load;
the...
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load on two connected wheels
on two sides is called one axle load
Poor upgrades of two vital rail
routes, agreed to by the premiers of
Bangladesh and India, might fail to
help the free flow of goods between
three South Asian countries.
The two routes – Rajshahi-Rohanpur-
Singhabad and the Parbatipur-Birol-
Radhikapur – could open up huge
cross-boundary trade opportunities
involving Bangladesh, India and
Nepal.
The Bangladesh Railway has decided
to use 90-pound rail (one metre of
rail weighing 90 pounds) on the two
routes, which is not fit to carry
heavier Indian wagons with 22.9-
tonne axle load, experts say.
The 90-pound rail can carry a
maximum of 22.5-tonne axle load.
The load on two connected wheels
on two sides is called one axle load.
Railway engineers fear that the
rehabilitated routes with 90-pound
rail can give in any time if the
heavier Indian wagons frequently
move on the Rajshahi-Rohanpur-
Singhabad route and the Parbotipur-
Birol-Radhikapur track in Dinajpur
district.
In a letter to the railway
headquarters, the railway’s general
manager has suggested that the
Indian wagons should carry 18-tonne
axle load—4.9 tonnes below the
Indian wagon capacity—for the
safety of the tracks. Dhaka Tribune
has obtained a letter in this regard.
Md Amzad Hossain, the additional
director general (infrastructure),
admitted the problem. “We will set
condition for lower loads and put
speed restriction on the Indian
wagons,” Amzad told Dhaka Tribune.
He said making the track uniform
with the Indian railway that uses
120-pound rail track involves a “huge
cost”. “Ideally, we should use 100-
pound rail in the routes having the
prospect of international trade,” TA
Chowdhury, an ex-director general
of railway, told the Dhaka Tribune.
Chowdhury said he initiated
replacement of the 90-pound rail
with heavier 100-pound track in
some sections of Bangladesh
Railway.
“Use of 120-pound track would be
better, but the 90-pound rail can
bear Indian wagons if they travel
less frequently,” Mozammel Hoque,
railway’s general manager (project),
said.
Bangladesh has already
rehabilitated the track from Rajshahi
to bordering station Rohanpur in
Chapai Nawabganj to connect it with
the Indian railway system through
Singhabad, the frontier station,
costing over Tk1.55bn.
This route stretches up to the India-
Nepal bordering stations of Raxaul
and Jogobani through Indian railway
network, which is connected with
most of the South Asian railway links.
Sheikh Hasina and her Indian
counterpart Manmohan Singh in the
joint communiqués have agreed
upgrading the Rohanpur-Singhabad
and the Birol-Radhikapur railway
routes for sub-regional trades.
The two links will ultimately give
India and landlocked Nepal and
Bhutan the access to the South-
western Mongla port for sub-
regional trade and cross-boundary
investment.
New Delhi has already granted over
Tk17.12bn as loan to build a 53-
kilometre track from Khulna to
Mongla port.
The railway authorities are
converting over 150 kilometres of
metre gauge track into broad gauge
at a cost greater than Tk10bn,
officials say.
Japan debt cancellation fund is
providing the money to rehabilitate
the Parbatipur-Birol-Radhikapur, and
the tracks up to Panchagarh.
This route was in use until 2004
when India converted its metre
gauge track into broad gauge,
suspending the Bangladesh-Nepal
trade through Indian territories.
Official figures show Bangladeshi
businesses import more than they
export. According to the trans-
boundary railway movement, a
receiving country must accept the
same load sent by the forwarding
countries.
In that case, one Indian wagon will
carry 91.6 tonnes while the
Bangladesh Railway will allow 72
tonnes – less than 19.6 tonnes.
Businesses pay the Indian railway
authorities the charge for 91.6
tonnes.
“The businessmen will certainly feel
discouraged to carry lesser amount
of goods by paying maximum
charge,” Abdul Halim Mia, the former
chief engineer of Bangladesh
Railway, said.
“It will increase cost of business,” he
noted