THE government has paid billions of taka for the development of Bangladesh Railways over the years, but it has miserably failed to bring any improvement in its service. The BR authority though claims that their priority remains on improving services for passengers, the truth is that people are not getting the expected service from the railways. Still most of the train compartments are shabby, toilets are dirty, and delay in schedule is very common. Besides, there are problems in ticketing and passengers’ security. We think the service offered by BR is too far from the preferred level. Moreover, a number of fatal accidents and derailments have made the train journey risky nowadays. These accidents have occurred due to untrained locomotive masters and poorly maintained lines and carriages.
According to officials, the BR operates 360 passenger and some 30 freight trains on its 3,000km network across the country’s eastern and western zones. The number of passengers has risen over the years. But the sector has failed to ensure expected quality service. In the last five fiscals, including the current one, the government allocated Tk 50,114.85 crore for technical and infrastructural development. But it could spend only Tk 28,489.75 crore. Unbridled corruption along with lack of professionalism, shortage of skilled manpower and absence of proper monitoring are mainly responsible for the constant loss. It would impossible to get a better service from the railways until making the overall sector corruption-free.
The BR still operates its activities following the backdated British rules. The quota system eats lion portion of tickets, the main source of revenue earnings, every day. Unskilled officials along with their lack of far sightedness have made the sector unable to precede keeping adjustment with modern age. Government must pay special attention to it.
