Monorail system: a personal view
May I refer to the report published in your newspaper on 27th November 2008 (Thursday) after the roundtable titled “Significance and task of rail in developing economy and communication”. Prof Dr M Anwar Hossain, Vice-chancellor, Ahsanullah University of Science & Technology (AUST), Dhaka has given the clear and rightful message that underground rail system would not be an economic and effective viable option to reduce traffic congestion and transport crisis. I agree 100% with Prof Dr. Anwar Hossain, about their conclusion after the round table discussion. I feel that the government and its relevant agencies should think twice, if not thrice, before they start digging mass graves all over Dhaka city considering the geographical condition of our soil, electricity problems and other factors related to construction and maintenance of underground rail system.
I would however like to make a humble and simple suggestion here as it keeps my mind knocking all the time since I visited Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in December 2007 about a year ago. To face and avoid traffic jam effectively and economically, I would like to put forward two simple questions for the honourable readers and the authorities concerned. The questions are: (1) Can we not shift the Kamalapur Railway station outside Dhaka city for example to Abdullahpur/Uttar Khan/Tongi? (2) Can we not set up monorail system as it is run in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia?
If the answers to the above questions are 'yes', then we will have two transport systems over the same space. One the 'land road' for the vehicles along the present railway track up to Abdullahpur/Uttar Khan/Tongi. Secondly, we can have the monorail system (similar to the one in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia) above the 'land road' all along the previous railway line. The construction of these two transport systems would not take more than 3 years, if I am correct to say so and if one is serious and determined. In that case, all the railway gates (not less than 50 I suppose) from Kamalapur to Abdullahpur/Uttar Khan/Tongi will be lifted and in their places those junctions will be 'rounds' or 'traffic lights' controlled by police. No one will have to wait for minutes and hours for trains to pass. On the contrary, monorail will run over the 'land road' uninterrupted and also vehicles (car, buses, etc) will run on 'land road' uninterrupted independently of each other. I have travelled in various parts of the world over the east 30 years, and seen practically transport systems of many of the developed and developing countries. As a patriotic citizen of Bangladesh, I strongly feel that the construction of the above mentioned two transport systems from Kamalapur to Abdullahpur/Uttar Khan/Tongi will be the most economic and viable option for mass transportation and will go a long way towards mitigating traffic congestions in the Dhaka city. These two transport systems mentioned above can be constructed in other major cities of Bangladesh such as Chittagong also. This is my humble and simple suggestion to the present and the future elected authorities to take into consideration the issue of solving traffic problem and to reduce traffic jam in Dhaka and other major cities. Again, I would like to request the authorities not to start digging mass graves expending huge sum of money (Tk. 23,000 crore or so). Let us go for simpler, economic and viable options first. Once these are established, perhaps then we can contemplate about setting up underground (metro) railway system later on.
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