The Jamuna Railway Bridge, the longest dedicated one of the country for train movements, is set to be opened for regular operation on 18 March, officials said.

"We are preparing for the opening of the bridge at 10:10 am on 18 March. Trains from both directions will pass through the bridge from then on," project director of the bridge Al Fattah M Masudur Rahman told BSS on Thursday.

He said Bangladesh Railways (BR) started operating passenger trains through the newly built bridge on a trial basis from 12 February 12, using one of the two lanes of the bridge.

The 4.8-kilometer-long dedicated double line dual gauge bridge will link the country's northwestern region with Dhaka and the rest of the country through railway tracks.

Rahman said train passengers using the 4.8-kilometer-long bridge would have to pay additional money as pontage charge, which is applied to Padma Bridge as well.

Railways ministry officials earlier said that train passengers would need to pay an extra amount ranging between Tk45 to Tk160 depending on the seat category as pontage fare.

The officials said the pontage charge would be counted on the basis of the bridge's length and the amount would be used for the bridge's maintenance.

BR Director General Afzal Hossain said that the new fare will come into effect from 19 March, a day after the bridge will be formally inaugurated.

Railway authorities prepared a route-based fare chart under which fares would be increased by a minimum of Tk45 and up to a maximum of Tk160, depending on the class of the train seats.

The BR chief said the new dedicated railway bridge is located 300 metres upstream of the Jamuna Multipurpose Bridge and the structure would enable authorities to run 88 trains daily through the country's longest railway bridge at high speeds.

The trial run was carried out earlier on the bridge when a train crossed it at a speed of 120 kph.

Since the opening of the Jamuna Multipurpose Bridge in 1998, some 38 trains have been crossing daily connecting the central part of Bangladesh including Dhaka with north, northwestern, southern and southwestern regions.

Railway officials said the government decided to construct the dedicated railway bridge in 2020 while its foundation stone was laid on 29 November of the same year.

The structure was built at a cost of Tk16,780.96 crore, 72.4% of which was provided by Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) as loan while the government provided the rest of the amount.

Japan's OTG and IHI constructed the bridge as a joint venture project.

The bridge required 7.667 kilometres of approach embankment and loop and 30.73 kilometres of railway tracks.