Though the train is a very popular mode of transport worldwide and its services everywhere have improved tremendously, in Bangladesh, despite it being hugely popular also, railway services here have remained very outdated. The condition of most rail infrastructures remain as the British colonial rulers left them while they departed this region. In many cases, railway lines have shrunk with hardly any noticeable improvement in the overall rolling stock.
Various problems facing the railways surfaced at a seminar recently. Railway’s 3,093-kilometre rail line is mostly single line, and trains fail to maintain schedule and cut travel time. Due to the single line, the railways cannot increase the number of trains also. Here bridges under the rail network are old that are unable to bear the high train speed and load. In these days of modern technology, only 124 out of the total 359 stations have a modern signalling system. The remaining stations have antiquated signaling systems.
Moreover, once Saidpur Railway Workshop was a very large one of its kind where carriages could be built, but it now has been reduced to only a repairing station. Still, against the need of about 48,000 staff, Bangladesh Railways has only 24,459 that have forced the authorities to shut down 123 stations. Moreover, there is the ubiquitous corruption involved in the projects the Railways takes up. As a result of all these enormous shortcomings, Bangladesh Railways are failing to meet the traveler’s expectation and become a popular mode of transportation of goods.
The thoughts of relevant people surrounding the improvement of railways are also, in a sense, bizarre. Padma Bridge that is awaiting a gala inauguration after a couple of days will undoubtedly establish connectivity among Chattogram, Mongla and under-construction Payra ports with the capital, and it will create a huge opportunity for freight transport. But we fail to understand why the authorities installed a single line track on Padma Bridge with 22-metre width, when the 15-metre-wide Hardinge Bridge was built with double-track by the British during the colonial period.
However, by overcoming the shortcomings gradually one by one, the Railways can also become a modern, smart and financially viable institution, if it is given an opportunity to compete with the road transports the owners of which over the years have taken away the bulk of passengers and cargo travel from railway through exerting their undue influence in the railway. The ministry is urged to shake off this vicious spell and make the institution a smart one by expanding the railway and introducing comfortable and faster trains running on schedule.
