Home ›› 25 Feb 2023 ›› Front
Bangladesh Railway (BR) has decided to build three more iconic railway stations in the country’s northern region, like the one being built in Cox’s Bazar.
The stations with attractive architectural designs will be constructed at Rangpur, Kaunia and Dinajpur’s Parbatipur. The proposed station buildings will have modern amenities like concourses, lounges and kiosks for the passengers.
“Parbatipur and Kaunia are important junctions for train operation. Rangpur is a divisional city, which automatically makes it important. That’s why the iconic stations are under consideration,” Liaquat Sharif Khan, additional chief engineer of Western Railways, told The Business Post.
The stations will be built under the “Conversion of Metre Gauge Line into Dual Gauge from Parbatipur to Kaunia Project” aiming to improve connectivity with India, Bhutan and Nepal to enhance the transportation of passengers
and goods.
The Tk 1,683-crore-project was approved in 2018 with 81 per cent cost set to be carried by the Indian line of credit (LoC). BR later hired a joint venture consultancy firm, led by Aarvee, at the cost of Tk 75.84 crore to conduct the feasibility studies, detail designs and prepare tender documents.
Under the project, seven railway stations, 47 bridges, including 14 girder bridges and 33 box culvert bridges, and 67km dual-gauge lines from Parbatipur to Kaunia will be built.
“Apart from the three iconic stations, other stations will be normal but they will have modern facilities,” said Liaquat, who is also the project director.
According to project details, the initiative will improve efficiency and augment line capacity on the Shantahar-Panchagarh corridor, particularly the Lalmonirhat-Panchagarh section, and the Kanchan-Biral route.
The lines will help to ease cross-border traffic from Bangladesh to India as the Indian part has a broad gauge rail line, while Bangladesh’s is a
metre gauge.
