Tk 31,500cr plan eyes 5-hour train trip to Dinajpur

The government has taken up an infrastructure development plan and project worth Tk31,500 crore to cut the hardship of train travel and communication in northern Bangladesh, with railway sources saying rail distance would shrink by 114 kilometres once it is implemented.

The shorter route raises the possibility of reaching Dinajpur in five hours. It would also ease travel for people of Dinajpur, Panchagarh, Thakurgaon, Nilphamari and other northern districts, and make it easier to carry goods and agricultural produce through the Hili land port, with a likely positive effect on the local economy.

Sheikh Hasanuzzaman, chief executive officer (CEO) of the Dinajpur Parbatipur Railway Division, confirmed the details to BSS on Friday, referring to the visit of Minister for Road Transport and Bridges, Railways and Shipping Shaikh Rabiul Alam, MP.

He said the minister announced the decision at a meeting with local railway officials and engineers on 13 October, after visiting the locomotive workshop in Parbatipur upazila of Dinajpur.

"Preliminary work has begun," he said, adding that under the plan Dinajpur-Dhaka rail communication and a new Bogura-Sirajganj rail line will set up.

Hasanuzzaman said the government has taken an initiative to bring in 80 new locomotives to raise the capacity of the country's railway.

A proposal to buy 30 of them has been approved by the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC). They will be purchased after the tender process is completed, and concerned sources said it may take another two years for them to reach the country.

"Efforts are under way to speed up the adoption and implementation of projects alongside the procurement of new locomotives," he said, adding that if the locomotives can be procured in the shortest possible time, railway operations can be made more dynamic.

The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) is financing a direct dual gauge railway chord line between Bogura and Sirajganj at a cost of Tk12,442 crore. Once construction is completed, train distance will fall by 114 kilometres, saving three to four hours on trips to Santahar and Ishwardi.

On the road side, more than 95 percent of construction work has been completed on the 190-kilometre Elenga-Hatikumrul-Rangpur highway, being built with Asian Development Bank (ADB) assistance at a cost of Tk19,056 crore.

The highway will have six lanes with service lanes, nine flyovers and 22 overpasses.

Work on the Sirajganj-Hatikumrul section is 77% complete. When the Hatikumrul international interchange opens, vehicles from 16 districts of the northern region will be able to reach Dhaka or their own districts without any signal.

For a long time, people of Dinajpur, Panchagarh and Thakurgaon had to cross the Jamuna Bridge and sit for hours in traffic at Hatikumrul, Elenga or on the narrow roads of Bogura town.

Train passengers had to reach Dhaka via Santahar and Ishwardi, a detour of a hundred kilometres. The Ministry of Road Transport and Railways has adopted this master plan to end that hardship.

Syed Jahangir Alam, Member of Parliament (MP) from Dinajpur-3, told BSS that work to build four lanes inside the city to ease congestion will begin very soon, alongside the development of the Dinajpur-Dhaka railway.

He expressed hope that work to convert the Dinajpur central bus terminal and the city's connecting roads into four lanes would start shortly.

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Jahangir said import-export activities of the Hili land port and Dinajpur's well-known Katarivog rice, litchi and potato would reach Dhaka within a few hours by fast train.

People from all walks of life in Dinajpur and Rangpur division consider the construction of the dual gauge railway and the six-lane highway, costing about Tk31,500 crore, to be justified.

He said the dual gauge railway and the six-lane highway are very urgent for people of Dinajpur, Panchagarh, Thakurgaon, Nilphamari, Rangpur, Bogura, Sirajganj and Joypurhat districts.

The lawmaker expressed hope that Prime Minister Tarique Rahman would give important directions for building the railway and the six-lane highway to ease the suffering of people in Dinajpur and the northern region.