In the past one decade, Tk 150,000 crore has been spent on the development of railway infrastructure, but Bangladesh Railway (BR) still counts an average loss of about Tk 2,000 crore every year.
Despite huge investments, 63 percent of the 3,000-kilometre railway is vulnerable while 70 percent of railway engines and coaches is outdated and the signaling system is still being operated manually.
Considering the reduced capacity of existing old rail lines, the speed of train is constantly reducing on different rail routes. Drivers have been instructed to drive at a speed of 20 kilometre (km) to 40 km per hour on some specific lines. And if any accidents incidents take place, the train schedule is disrupted, creating immense suffering for passengers.
Experts opine that the railways authority is implementing some projects which fail to reap benefits for the railway sector.
Communication expert Prof Dr. Md. Hadiuzzaman said that a huge investment has been made to develop infrastructure, but the railway could not add a required number of modern locomotives, and coaches or improve skills of its manpower.
On the other hand, due to a shortage of manpower, operational work is being conducted by contractual workers. At the same time, 1,761 unauthorised level crossings increase the risk of accidents across the country.
Hence, passengers who term train as their safest mood of transport now fear travelling by trains.
Train accidents often happen in the country. As a result, train travel has become unsafe. After independence, rail passenger traffic was 30 percent, which has now come down to 8 percent.
According to the railways’ recent statistics, Tk 18,000 crore has been spent on the Dhaka-Cox’s Bazar route only for the construction of the railway from Dohazari in Chattogram to Cox’s Bazar. Despite rising demand for more trains on Dhaka-Cox’s Bazar route, only two trains are operating on the section.
Again since the opening of the 79-km long railway, only one train Dhalarchar Express is operating on Ishwardi-Pabna-Dhalarchar route but there is no passenger demand on this route. However, Tk 1,714 crore has been spent on the construction of the railway.
The data shows that railways have spent a huge amount of money on
some areas where passengers’ demand is higher but the number of trains is few. In some cases, railways have taken up projects without considering passengers’ demand.
There are 2,541 level crossings on 2,835-km railway across the country. Of the total, the number of authorised crossings is only 780. But 242 authorised crossings out of 780 have guards or gatekeepers.
Experts of Road Safety Foundation, an organisation working on rail and road accidents, said that level crossing accidents are increasing day by day.
According to the organisation data, 1,422 people lost their lives in 1,177 railway accidents across the country in last six years from 2018 to 2023.
Road Safety Foundation Executive Director Saidur Rahman told Bangladesh Post, “There is a dishonest circle in Bangladesh Railways. They do not want any improvement in railways. Some projects are being implemented which are not sustaining in the long run. A good example is demo train. Again bus owners have a relationship with them, and they are harming the government institutions and making a way for the bus owners to make profits.”
