The long-awaited dream of the people of northern Bangladesh has come true as the first trial train run was successfully conducted on Tuesday on the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Railway Bridge, built over the mighty Jamuna River.
Authorities announced that the official inauguration of the bridge will take place in January 2025.
A trial train with an engine and three coaches departed at 10:15am from the eastern side of the bridge in Tangail and traveled to the western side in Sirajganj. The train returned to the eastern side at 10:41am.
Another engine with three coaches departed from the Sirajganj side at 10:20am, reached the eastern side, and began its journey back to the western side at 10:29am.
Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Railway Bridge Project Director Al-Fattah Masudur Rahman said two trial trains are running from the west side of the bridge to the east side. At first, the train moves at a speed of 10 km. Later it moves at a speed of 40 km. It will gradually increase its speed. He said that the trial train will run several times in this way.
Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Railway Bridge Project Additional Chief Engineer Sheikh Naimul Islam said that the construction of the railway bridge has already been completed. We have started running the train over the bridge experimentally. The bridge will be officially inaugurated next January. But even if it starts, it will take another two months for the train to reach full speed.
According to project sources, construction of the bridge began in August 2020 at an initial cost of Tk 9,734.7 crore. However, the cost later increased to Tk 16,780.96 crore, of which Tk 12,149.2 crore was provided as a loan by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica).
The project was originally planned to run from July 2016 to However, the first revision extended the deadline to December 2024.
The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) approved the project on December 6, 2016.
It is noteworthy that after the opening of the Bangabandhu Bridge in 1998, rail communication between Dhaka and the northwestern region was established. However, in 2008, cracks appeared in the bridge, which led to a reduction in the speed limit of trains. Currently, about 38 trains cross the bridge daily at a speed of 20 kilometers per hour, leading to delays and schedule disruptions, along with increasing passenger inconvenience. To resolve these issues, the government decided to build a separate railway bridge over the Jamuna River.
