It is good to note that government has embarked on a massive initiative to upgrade the country’s railway network. Reportedly, under the 8th Five-Year Plan, comprehensive steps will be taken for construction of 798.09 km new railway lines, 897 km of dual gauge/double railway lines parallel to existing railway lines and renovation of 846.51 km of railway network.
It needs no emphasising that our highways are over burdened with more vehicles they can handle, which is causing fatal accidents on a daily basis. Currently, bulk of human and cargo transportation takes place by roads despite the hazards of accidents that occur on a daily basis. We must opt for rail travel in order to decrease the number of road accidents. Hence, the government should take necessary steps to upgrade the railway to world standard so that dependence on road transportation can be minimised.
The government is working to bring the whole country under rail network to facilitate transportation of people and goods at a cheaper rate. Steps have been taken to connect Dhaka with Cox’s Bazar, Mongla Seaport, Tungipara, Barishal, Chattogram Hill Tracts and other parts of the country under the railway network.
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 none 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. In a land scare country like Bangladesh, 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.
A modern railway does not mean new machinery and equipment only. 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 staffs will need to be changed and they will need extensive training to be able to operate digitalised modern rail engines and signals.
