Test run of special train on Padma Bridge next week

The Bangladesh Railway is planning to go for a trial run of a special train on the 42-kilometre Mawa-Bhanga section on April 4 as rail track installation work is almost completed on the Padma Bridge.

Railways Minister Md Nurul Islam Sujan is expected to visit the site on the day and inspect the trial run, according to Bangladesh Railway officials.

Senior Information Officer of the Railways Ministry Md Shariful Alam said the track installation work is scheduled to be completed by March 30. As the works have not been completed yet, the minister will make the visit on April 4.

Meanwhile, Afzal Hossain, Project Director of the Padma Bridge Rail Link Project, said they had run a test run between Faridpur's Bhanga and the Padma Bridge viaduct at Shariatpur earlier. This time the trial train will cross the Padma Bridge.

According to the officials familiar with the matter, the project will be implemented within June 2024 and currently, 99 per cent works from Mawa to Bhanga section has been completed.

They also said the authorities may take a few more days to install loop lines at the stations in this section. After installing loop lines, the section will be ready for train operations in September.

“Trains will run on the Padma Bridge from September, allowing passengers to travel from Dhaka to Faridpur’s Bhanga,” Afzal Hossain told The Business Post in the first week of this month.

The Dhaka-Mawa part’s construction will be completed by August while the Bhanga-Jashore section will be finished by next year, he said, adding that the project’s overall progress is 75 per cent.

In November last year, test runs of railroad speeders were conducted on the new line from Bhanga to Zajira. After tracks are laid on the Padma Bridge, the speeders will be able to inspect the line from Mawa to Bhanga.

Bangladesh Railway Director General Md Quamrul Ahsan told reporters last month they would be ready to run trains from Dhaka to Bhanga by August.

He said they would also be able to install automated signalling systems at four of the eight stations by then.

According to the project documents, the 169 km Dhaka-Jashore Padma Bridge rail link will be completed in three parts – from Dhaka to Mawa, from Mawa to Bhanga, and from Bhanga to Jashore.

It is a priority project being implemented by Bangladesh Railway. The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council approved the project in March 2016 with an estimated cost of Tk 349.89 billion.

Bangladesh signed a $2.76 billion credit deal with China’s Exim Bank in 2018 to implement the project. After making reasonable adjustments, the project’s deadline was extended by two years to December 2024. But after construction began, the project encountered another setback due to the coronavirus pandemic.

On June 25 last year, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurated the much-awaited Padma Bridge with the incomplete railway tracks. The upper deck of the bridge was opened to traffic the next day.