Two Chinese companies have proposed constructing the railway lines for the high-speed tourist train or bullet to run between Dhaka and Cox’s Bazar route.
The government will construct the high-speed tourist train on the Dhaka-Cox’s Bazar route as a rail line is already being installed on the Chittagong-Cox’s Bazar route.
China Railway Construction Corporation (CRCC) and China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC) have made a proposal to build the first-ever bullet trainline of the country on Dhaka-Chattogram-Cox's Bazar through a public-private partnership (PPP).
In this regard, the two organizations have sent a proposal to the Public-Private Partnership Authority of the government through the Chinese Embassy in Bangladesh. The Public-Private Partnership Authority has sent the proposal to the Director General of Bangladesh Railway for comment.
Earlier, in the meantime, Bangladesh Railway, CRDC and Majumdar Enterprise of Bangladesh jointly conducted the feasibility study and design work of the project.
As per the existing railway route, the distance between Dhaka and Chattogram is 321 kilometres (KMs). But the distance will be reduced by 94 km in the proposed bullet train project. There will be six stations on the route-Dhaka, Narayanganj, Cumilla, Feni, Pahartali, and Chattogram.
The survey estimated the construction cost of the high-speed railway at US$ 1.14 billion (Dhaka-Chittagong part only). At the current exchange rate (per dollar Tk 84.87) the amount is Tk 96 thousand 752 crore. The Financial Internal Rate of Return (FIRR) of this investment has been fixed at 4.66 percent. The Economic Internal Rate of Return (EIRR) is 15.18 percent.
The railway will be built for passenger service only. The design speed has been set at 300 kilometers per hour. Two lines of standard gauge will be constructed, which will have an axle load capacity of 17 tons. The electric railway will be stoneless. Sophisticated ‘automatic block’ signal system will be used.
Now it takes about six to seven hours to reach Chattogram from the capital city. Once the project is completed, passengers will be able to travel to the port city from Dhaka in just 55 minutes.
Although two Chinese companies have proposed to build through PPP, the Railways Ministry has not yet finalized the financing method for the high-speed railway. According to ministry officials, this will be the largest project in the country's communications infrastructure sector in terms of money. The project is difficult to implement with own funding. They are now being contacting various donor agencies for the project implementation.
Project Director Md Quamrul Ahsan said that, "We are still working on the feasibility study and detailed design of the project. Whether we are doing any work on financing or investment or any other way is yet to be finalized."
However, he hoped that the detailed design work will be completed by March even it was scheduled in June this year.
Meanwhile, the Railway Minister Nurul Islam Sujan told the media, "It is a big budget project. It is difficult for us to implement without foreign aid. We are doing the necessary work for investment."
Officials concerned said that the train will be able to carry some 50,000 passengers each way per day at a speed of 300 km per hour. Each passenger may have to pay an estimated Tk 2,000 for a one-way ticket.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina first came up with the idea of a high-speed rail link during a visit to the Ministry of Railway on October 24, 2014.
