The government should take necessary steps to upgrade the railway to world standard so that dependence on road transportation can be minimised. Our highways are over burdened with more vehicles they can handle, which is causing fatal accidents on a daily basis. We must opt for rail travel in order to decrease the number of road accidents. Hence,
There is no denying that the incumbent government has taken various initiatives to upgrade and modernise the country's rail transport system. Also, the government is working to bring the whole country under rail network to facilitate transportation of people and goods at a cheaper rate. However, it is disconcerting to note that Bangladesh Railway continues to incur huge losses despite receiving massive investments from the government over the years. Reportedly, the transport agency incurred a loss of Tk 2,086.70 crore in the 2019-20 fiscal year, up from Tk 1,751 crore in the previous year.
The government should take
necessary steps to upgrade the
railway to world standard so that
dependence on road transportation can be minimised
It needs to be mentioned that one of the previous governments of Bangladesh took any initiative for the expansion of rail network in the country. Bangladesh Railway has been providing the services with a network which is not suitable for and oriented to the traffic requirements of the country. The railway network, inherited from British Indian railways, received a relatively meagre allocation of resources in the past decades comparing to the road sector.
There is a need for a paradigm shift from continued investment in the road sector, to developing the railway network and improving its level of services. However, a modern railway does not mean new machinery and equipment only. For the new generation speedy trains we need good and solid tracks and digitalised signalling system as well as well trained manpower. While new generation trained manpower has to be recruited, the mindset of the old staff will need to be changed and they will need extensive training to be able to operate digitalised modern rail engines and signals.
