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Run-down railway track, engine shortage hit commuter service

23 April 2010, 18:00 PM

METROPOLITAN

Shahnaz Parveen

A train coming from Narayanganj enters Kamalapur Railway Station in the city. Photo: Rashed Suman

Commuter train service connecting Dhaka city with surrounding districts is gradually attracting more passengers but it has become difficult to increase frequency of services as per demands for a number of reasons. The difficulties the train services facing now include dilapidated railway tracks and engine as well as coach shortages. Currently, there are 34 up-and-down train services connecting Jamalpur, Dewanganj, Brahmanbaria, Akhaura, Mymensingh, Joydevpur and Narayanganj with the capital. According to information from Bangladesh Railway (BR), these services carry about 27,000 passengers every day to Dhaka city. Among these services, Dhaka-Narayanganj service is the most popular with 9,600 daily passenger movement. Commercial activities of these train services are operated by three private companies, except the one from Dhaka to Dewanganj run by BR. Currently, there are about 25 percent locomotive shortage and almost 50 percent coach shortage, a problem acute to the state-owned mass transport agency hindering quality services, said BR officials. Md Atiar Rahman, one of the owners and director of Banna Enterprise, which operates the Dhaka-Narayanganj service, said: “Trains often take too much time to reach destination for dilapidated condition of tracks. Distance from Dhaka to Narayanganj is only 17km but it takes about 42 minutes to reach destination, often more. However, the duration is still less than road transport.” With all setbacks, passenger traffic is increasing every year, he said, adding that Banya Enterprise carried about 32 lakh passengers in 2008. The number increased to 37 lakh in 2009. He also pointed out that train fare from Dhaka to Narayanganj is Tk 6 as the highest where as bus fare is about Tk 25. Md Golam Rob, deputy managing director of Shifin Traders Ltd, which operate services to Brahmanbaria and Akhaura, mentioned shortage of locomotives for delays and inadequate services. He said, “There is no exclusive engine supply for commuter service. Engines from the link connection are used. Trains often cannot start on time because of the engine shortage. Besides these, engines remain in use continuously. So, they break down very easily for lack of maintenance.” “The schedule of station crossing is synchronised with all other train services. If one train fails to cross the station on time for engine change delays, it effects the timing of others increasing waiting period.” Shifin carried about 13 lakh passengers in 2009, which is about 2 lakh more than the previous year. The owners mentioned that trains are bound to run in slow speed because of too many illegal vendors occupying the rail tracks increasing the risks of accidents. There are also problems such as poor quality of coaches, lack of toilets and cooling fans for passengers, they added. Talking to this correspondent, BR Director General Md Belayet Hossain said: “The government has plans to expand commuter train services connecting Dhaka and surrounding districts in order to reduce pressure on road transports and ease traffic congestion in the city.” Admitting to shortage of engines and coaches, he said, “Procurement of 20 sets of Diesel Electric Multiple Unit (DEMU) is currently in the pipeline. DEMU has the high acceleration and deceleration capacity along with flexibility of splitting or combining units with no need to reverse engine, which will reduce operational running time.” “It is possible to divert more passengers from road transport sectors by improving commuter train services with surrounding districts. Railway is also comparatively cheaper.” Passenger carrying capacity of a train is three times bigger than a bus. Railway is also the most environment-friendly mass transport with minimum energy consumption, the BR DG noted.