Dhaka-Ctg rail link: Double-lined all along now

Rail communications between Dhaka and Chattogram will get a significant boost as the entire corridor will be double lined from today.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will inaugurate the 72km Akhaura-Lakhsam section, where dual-gauge double lines were installed under a Tk 6,504.54 crore project.

The inauguration will take place virtually from the Gono Bhaban at 11:00am, while Railways Minister Nurul Islam Sujan will preside over the programme.

The rest of the 321km track between the capital and the port city has already been converted into a double line.

The Dhaka-Chattogram railway is the first rail corridor in the country to be fully double-lined.

According to Bangladesh Railway officials, the travel time between the two cities will become an hour shorter once the section is opened.

Train journeys on this route took longer time when the Akhaura-Laksham section was the only one in the entire corridor to not be double lined.

In this given situation, a project, jointly funded by Asian Development Bank, European Investment Bank, and the government, was approved in December 2014 to turn it into a double rail line and covert the existing track into a dual gauge one.

Though the initial deadline was June 2020, it was later extended to June this year, with a proposal for a one-year extension, mainly for defect liability, which is still waiting for approval.

The most important corridor in the country's railway network, the Dhaka-Chattogram line also constitutes a major part of the Trans-Asian Railway and the Sub-regional railway corridor.

A double-track line between the capital and country's second largest city is essential for passenger and goods transportation.

Eight passenger trains currently make round trips on the route daily. Five freight trains also use the line. When it was single lined, they all had to wait at nearby stations to make way for each other, causing delays in their schedules.

After the Akhaura-Laksham section opens as double-lined track, a greater number of passengers and freight trains, which are in demand, could be operated, as the sectional capacity will increase.

"All trains can be operated on the track now without any hindrance. Risks of head-on collisions will also be reduced," said a BR official, preferring anonymity.

However, it still has to convert the 120km Tongi-Akhaura and 129km Lakhsam-Chattogram metre gauge (MG) lines into dual gauge ones to further increase capacity. A feasibility study for this has already been carried out.

It also has to implement the government's decision to phaseout MG lines by 2045, he said.

Another BR official, however, said that though the transformation of the long Dhaka-Chattogram line into a dual one will cut travel time, it perhaps is not the "best option".

The construction of a chord line (route across the outskirts of an urban area) between Dhaka and Cumilla via Narayanganj would reduce the distance from Dhaka to Chattogram from the existing 320km to around 230km, he said.

BR has already started a study in this regard, he said, adding that in that case, passenger trains would be able to use the chord line while the existing line can be used as dedicated freight corridor.