Bangladesh Railway has planned to bring its entire network under an integrated telecommunication system through setting up a 575-kilometre optical fiber line over 44 upazilas under 17 districts to build a much safer and more secure train communication system.
This effort is also meant for coping with the growing number of railway tracks as well as bogies and engines.
“The Ministry of Railways has proposed a draft project to this end titled ‘Establishing and launching optical fiber-based telecommunication system in 575 kilometers of secondary line of Bangladesh Railway’ to the Planning Commission,” said a Planning Commission official.
The official said Bangladesh Railway will implement the proposed project from January 2018 to June 2020 with an estimated cost of Tk 78.13 crore to be entirely borne from the national exchequer.
The project will soon be placed before an Ecnec meeting for its approval, the official added.
The project aims to launch experienced and integrated telecommunication network under Bangladesh Railway which will also help boost the operational efficiency of Railway and thus enhance its revenue income alongside ensuring security in train operations.
Besides, the country’s people will be able to enjoy better telecommunication facilities accelerating the ‘Digital Bangladesh’ drive.
Talking to UNB, an official at the Ministry of Railways said Bangladesh Railway had first launched an optical fiber-based integrated telecommunication system back in 1992 with Norwegian grant under which optical fiber over some 1600 kilometers had been set up.
Then Bangladesh Railway in association with Grameenphone set up another 439 kilometers of optical fiber which the private cell phone operator has now been operating commercially.
“The Railway has recently set up some 400 kilometers of optical fiber and works are on to set up another 569 kilometers of new optical fiber. But, this was not enough to bring the whole of Bangladesh Railway under optical fiber network communication system,” the official added.
The official said Bangladesh Railway still has no optical fiber in its rest of 575 kilometers of secondary line and the telecommunications operation in these lines is based on copper cable which has many limitations as well as in addition to failure to provide desired services.
Another official at the Ministry of Railways said the project will cover seven upazilas of Mymensingh, Netrakona, Jamalpur, Tangail and Rajbari districts under Dhaka division, four upazilas of Chittagong, Comilla and Noakhali districts under Chittagong Division, three upazilas under Jessore district of Khulna division, six upazilas under Rajshahi and Chapainawabganj districts of Rajshahi division, and some 23 upazilas under Dinajpur, Thakurgaon, Panchagarh, Nilphamari, Lalmonirhat and Kurigram districts under Rangpur division.
The main project operations include erecting 52 kilometers of optical fiber from Gouripur to Mohonganj, 21-km optical fiber line from Shyamganj to Jariajhanjail, 38-km optical fiber line from Tarakandi to the east end of Bangabandhu Bridge, 101-km optical fiber line from Laksam to Noakhali, 2-km line from Foteyabad to Chittagong University, 102-km optical fiber line from Dinajpur to Panchagarh, 6-km line on Kanchan-Birol, 52-km line on Syedpur-Chilahati, 84-km line on Lalmonirhat-Burimari, 47-km line from Teesta Junction to Ramna Bazar, 11-km line from Pachuria to Goalandaghat, 35-km line from Jessore to Benapole, 53-km line from Rajshahi to Chapainawabganj and 25-km optical fiber line from Amnura to Rohonpur.
