RAILWAY COMMUNICATION IN BANGLADESH

Presented by Engr. Md.Arafat Hasan

Structural Engineer at Parent Construction & Consultancy Ltd.

History of Railway

In 1769 France Mechanic Nicholas Joseph First invented air engine. In 27 September 1825, Railway first start at England.

Railway acts as an important method of mass transport in Bangladesh . Many districts of the country are connected via railways. Bangladesh Railway began in 1862. 53.11 km broad gauge line for traffic on 15 November between Darsana and Jagiti. The next 14.98 km meter gauge line was opened for traffic on 4th January 1885. In 1891, the construction of then Assam-Bengal Railway was taken by the Assam-Bangla Railway Company. On 1 July 1895, two sections of meter gauge lines were opened between Chittagong and Comilla, a length of 149.89 kilometers and between Laksam and Cahndpur, a length of 50.89 kilometers. Railway Companies formed in England took up the construction and operation of these sections in middle and late 19th century. Bangladesh Railway was mostly inherited from the British-established Assam Bengal railway system after the partition of India in 1947.

Bangladesh Railway's headquarters are located in the southern port city of Chittagong, which had historically been the south-eastern terminus of the Assam-Bengal Railway. After independence from Pakistan in 1971, only a small length of additional new tracks were laid .

A major road-rail bridge at Jamuna opened in 1998 to connect the previously isolated east and west rail networks.

Introduction

1st time established in1862Bangladesh Railway covers 44 civil districts

of the country.BR is divided into two zones, East & West-

each under control of a general manager who is accountable to the Director General of Bangladesh Railway.

The existence of Bangladesh Railway are the several gauges-

Broad gauge, Metre gauge and dual gauge.

As of 2005, the total length of railroad is 2,706 km. Of that, 923 km are broad gauge (1.676 meter) tracks (mostly in the western region), while the remaining 1,822 km are metre gauge tracks (mostly in the central and eastern regions). The gauge problem is being tackled by adding third rails to the most important broad and metre gauge routes, so that they become dual gauge.

Bangladesh Railway at present has got 2855 route kilometers

Total number of employs 34,168 who works under Bangladesh railway.

On March 2008, the broad gauge reached Dhaka, the national capital though only up to Dhaka Cantonment, DOHS Baridhara. Recently It Reached in to Kamlapur Station.

IMPORTANCE

RAIL IS THE BEST WAY TO CARRYING HEAVY LOAD.

AVAILABLE IN EVERY COUNTRIES.

CAN PASS HUGE PASSENGER.

POPULAR IN COMMERCIAL COMPANY.

LESS RISK.

JOURNEY IS REASONABLE.

Components :

Gauge :

The Gauge of a railway track is defined as the clear minimun perpendicular distance between inner faces of the two Rails.

The standard track gauge - the distance between the two rails - is 4 ft. 8½ in or 1435 mm. but many other gauges, wider and narrower than this, are in use around the world.  Gauge is often intentionally widened slightly on curved track. 

TYPE OF GAUGE

Type WidthBroad Gauge 1.524m- 1.676m (5’ 0’’ -5’ 6”)

Standard Gauge 1.435m-1.451m (4’ 8.5’’ -4’ 9.125”)

Meter Gauge 1m- 1.067m (3’ 3.375’’ -3’ 6”)

Narrow Gauge 0.610m-0.762m (2’ 0’’ -2’ 6”)

Dual-gauge :A dual-gauge or mixed-gauge railway has railway track that allows trains of different gauges to use the same track. Generally dual-gauge railway consists of three rails, rather than the standard two rails

Factors affecting the choice of gauge:

Cost considerations:Proportional increase in cost of land acquisition, earthwork, sleepers, ballast for a wider gaugeMarginal increase in construction cost of bridge, culvert, tunnels etc. for a wider gaugeNo change in cost of rolling stock (for carrying same volume of traffic), stations, platforms, etc. Traffic considerations :Wider gauge ->Larger wagons->More trafficWider gauge ->Larger wheels-> Higher speed ->More traffic Geographical considerations : Mountainous terrain -> Sharper curves-> Narrow gaugeUniformity: Consistency with existing track. Development of poor areas

PRESENT RAIL ROUTE

IN BANGLADES

H

More Details of Bangladesh rail route

Ref. www.railway.gov.bd

PROPOSEPROPOSED RAIL D RAIL ROUTE ROUTE

IN IN BANGLADESBANGLADES

HH

The Trans-Asian Railway (TAR) is a project to create an integrated freight railway network across Europe and Asia.

Major Problems of Bangladesh Railway

Lack Of Qualified Manpower

Lack of manpower

Lack Of coordinationLack of Funding Lack of Modernization & Development

Lack of Government Attention

1) Maintaining train time schedule2) Increase number of train accident3) Proper utilize of resources4) Falling Service Standards

1)Misuse of Pass tickets2)Black ticket3)Lack Maintenance of Train

Corruption

Recommendation

Government have to give scope for private company to give railway service.

Government have to pay more attention on railway sector in order to create this sector as profitable sector.

Government have to give more budget on Bangladesh railway sector for development purpose

Bangladesh Railway should commercialize some of the service operations and introduce a new pricing system which should be based on market.

Massive 'education' and training programmed to be launched for the all employee related to the Bangladesh railway.

Reduce the surplus and non-productive and idle workers.

Strictly monitoring the pass tickets system so miss use of pass ticket will be stop.

Have to stop corruption by imposing affective rules & regulation.

Have to improve the quality of service by providing well hospitality including good food, well seating arrangement ,maintaining good environment.

Employee salary & facility have to increase so people tendency to corruption will be reduce.

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