[🇧🇩] Bangladesh Railway

[Saif]

Bangladesh Railway must be made accountable

Why is it continuously failing to finish projects on time and within budget?

www.thedailystar.net

Bangladesh Railway must be made accountable
Why is it continuously failing to finish projects on time and within budget?

VISUAL: STAR

It is frustrating to see yet another report highlighting the Bangladesh Railway's chronic failure to implement projects on time and within budget. Reportedly, 12 out of 13 projects completed by BR in fiscal year 2018-19 had their time extended, ranging up to nine and a half years, and costs increased as much as 260.81 percent. The details of these poorly executed projects seem irrelevant given how frequently this has been happening, thanks to a lack of transparency and accountability at the railway departments. No amount of criticism seems to have an effect on the relevant authorities. This is alarming.

Let us take the Dhaka-Tongi-Joydepur railway expansion project as an example. This was supposed to be completed in 2015, but physical work did not even begin until February 2019. The project's deadline is now set for June 2027, marking an unbelievable 12-year delay. Meanwhile, its cost has increased almost fourfold to Tk 3,342.55 crore. Reportedly, the project was initiated without any feasibility study or clearly defined work scope.

Another report found that in FY 2018-19, the East Zone of BR recorded a loss of more than Tk 11 crore while making purchases. There are allegations that it procured Tk 2 crore worth of materials from a vendor when the market price of those materials was just around Tk 18 lakh. We have also seen how BR's failure to buy 70 locomotives over 11 years has increased their cost by almost a thousand crore taka. This culture of poor execution causing inflated bills seems to be the overarching story of BR's development projects, which invariably suffer from delays in material supply, changes in project designs and work scopes, lack of proper feasibility study, shortage of manpower, procurement anomalies, budget extensions, etc.

Against this backdrop, between 2008-09 and 2022-23, the BR spent Tk 71,113 crore under the annual development programme (ADP). With this much money injected, how much return has it been able to provide so far? Very little. It continues to provide substandard services to passengers with outdated locomotives and frequent delays in trips. How long will this organisation, and those in charge of it, remain unaccountable? How long will the hard-earned money of taxpayers be spent in enabling corruption? We urge the authorities to institute a functional system of accountability at BR so that all projects are executed properly.​

 

[Saif]

https://thefinancialexpress.com.bd/economy/bangladesh/br-suffers-operating-loss-of-tk-45m-a-day

BR suffers operating loss of Tk 45m a day
Suspension of all trains
Munima Sultana
Published :
Jul 30, 2024 09:35
Updated :
Jul 30, 2024 09:35

The Bangladesh Railway (BR) suffers an operating loss of estimated over Tk 45 million each day for keeping all passenger and cargo trains suspended since the quota reform movement turned violent on July 18.

The state-owned train operator runs 335 trains and 26 freight trains daily which managed revenue of Tk 17.50 billion in the fiscal year 2023-24.

Sources said as all train services except urgent fuel cargo have been suspended for the last 12 days, the BR's loss is estimated no less than Tk 540 million.

However, this time the train operator has to bear a demurrage of Tk 500 million for refunding money of all trains' tickets as the BR sells tickets 10 days before the schedule days.

"It means the loss of the state in railway sector this time for keeping trains totally off would be higher as the BR is never a profit-making entity," said an analyst.

The BR's net operating income which is always negative due to a huge gap in income and expenditure was Tk 17.56 billion as operating expense was Tk 28.67 billion against operating revenue of Tk 11.11 billion.

The general managers of the BR's two zones said during the last 12 days, the BR's fuel was only not needed but also its other expense like maintaining stations, office staff, signaling etc. needed to be maintained despite no train operation.

So, it cannot be assess easily the actual operating loss during the last 12 days, said the GM of Western Zone.

The BR had to keep its train services suspended highest over two months during the lockdown for the Covid-19 pandemic. There no such example of keeping the trains totally off since the country's independence, said a senior railway official.

Railway Secretary Dr Humayun Ahmed said the government this time has decided to keep all trains off to ensure safety and security for the BR property and passengers.

"It is quite time consuming to buy railway equipment including carriages and locomotives. Not only time, those are expensive too and also the BR has severe shortage of these," he told the FE at his office.

According to the BR data, it has to maintain 3093 kilometre route and 4,438km track, 489 stations along with staff of nearly 26,000.

Around 60 per cent passengers of the BR are being carried by intercity trains which, the data, say over 91 per cent of the total earning of from passenger traffic. But the BR's passenger earning dropped from 61 per cent in 2019-2020 to 43.25 per cent in 2020-21.

Freight earning also varies as it was 21.81 per cent in 2019-2020 and 31.19 per cent in 2020-2021. Other earnings like lease and advertisement contributed 16 per cent and 23 per cent respectively.​

 

[Saif]

BR resumes all services today

The Bangladesh Railway (BR) restarts train services of all types today (Thursday) through operating intercity trains. The operation of all commuter, mail and local trains has gone on well over the past three days. Official sources said all 325 trains but four to five intercity express ones will r

thefinancialexpress.com.bd

BR resumes all services today
FE REPORT
Published :
Aug 15, 2024 09:14
Updated :
Aug 15, 2024 09:29

The Bangladesh Railway (BR) restarts train services of all types today (Thursday) through operating intercity trains.

The operation of all commuter, mail and local trains has gone on well over the past three days.

Official sources said all 325 trains but four to five intercity express ones will run from today.

The suspended trains will undergo maintenance work.

Some coaches of Parabat Express and Jayantika Express were damaged and burnt by some unruly people during the countrywide quota-reform movement.

The BR operates 64 intercity express trains under the western zone and 54 trains under the eastern zone.

It halted all services sine die on July 18 but resumed partially on August 01 by operating commuter, local, and mail services on short distances.

But the state-owned rail operator once again suspended the services on August 03 as the student movement gathered tempo.

Sources, however, said six cross-country train services will remain suspended until further notice.

The officials said freight service of the BR has been running smoothly since its resumption.

On average, the BR operates 30 to 50 trains on demand to transport fuel and food grains daily.​

 

[Saif]

BR, metro rail at odds over Kamalapur space

The authorities of the Bangladesh Railway and the Dhaka Mass Transit Company Limited which operates metro rail in Dhaka are still at loggerheads over a space for DMTCL to construct a yard for its...

www.newagebd.net

BR, metro rail at odds over Kamalapur space
Shahin Akhter 05 October, 2024, 00:17

The authorities of the Bangladesh Railway and the Dhaka Mass Transit Company Limited which operates metro rail in Dhaka are still at loggerheads over a space for DMTCL to construct a yard for its MRT line 6 at the site of a multimodal transport hub proposed by railway authorities in the capital’s Kamalapur.

Bangladesh Railway officials alleged that DMTCL was planning to construct a yard at the proposed site of the hub without obtaining permission from railway authorities.

They said that the yard, if constructed, would affect the hub’s design.

The DMTCL officials, on the other hand, claimed that the yard was important for the smooth operation of mass transit line 6 that would touch Kamalapur.

They said that a decision regarding the yard was still pending.

DMTCL which operates metro rail in the capital is under the Ministry of Road Transport and Bridges, while Bangladesh Railway is under the Ministry of Railways.

In 2013, the government formulated the National Integrated Multimodal Transport Policy aiming at developing the country’s transport sector by emphasising railways, waterways, and airways along with roads.

Kajima Corporation, a Japanese company, is now working at the planning stage of the Kamalapur Multimodal Transport Hub Project, a public-private partnership initiative, under the Japan-Bangladesh government-to-government venture to convert the station into a transport hub to provide maximum comfort and convenience to users.

The project was approved by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs in October 2018. A memorandum of cooperation was signed between the governments of Bangladesh and Japan in June 2017 in this connection.

Meanwhile, the services of the country’s first-ever electricity-powered elevated and air-conditioned rail system, MRT line 6, are now running on the 20.1-kilometre-long Uttara–Motijheel section.

Following an extension of another 1.16-kilometre, the services are scheduled to run up to Kamalapur from December 2025.

In 2020, Bangladesh Railway authorities opposed the design of the extended route of the MRT line-6 as they feared that the extended part would affect the design of the multimodal transport hub.

On November 24, 2020, the railway authorities reached a consensus with the DMTCL that the Kamalapur railway station would be relocated by demolishing its iconic architecture to make way for metro rail.

The relocation proposal, tabled by Kajima Corporation, was approved by the then Prime Minister’s Office on December 14, 2020.

In February this year, railway authorities informed the railways ministry that DMTCL was conducting a survey for building a 300-meter yard at Kamalapur without permission from Bangladesh Railway.

The Kamalapur Multimodal Transport Hub project director Al Fattah Md Masudur Rahman said that the yard for the metro rail was not necessary.

DMTCL was not given any approval to conduct any survey or begin any kind of work for their yard on Bangladesh Railway’s land.

He said that they had discussed with the consultants of DMTCL.

He said that Kajima Corporation vehemently opposed the plan of constructing the proposed yard as it would affect the hub project.

Al Fattah said that they had given DMTCL letters saying that they had no scope to give them space for the yard.

‘Still, they are holding meetings to get the space,’ he said, adding, ‘On September 4, at an inter-ministerial meeting at the road transport and bridges ministry, we protested against the DMTCL plan to construct the yard.’

The inter-ministerial meeting decided that technical officials would discuss the plan for building the yard at Kamlapur and the interim government’s adviser Muhammad Fauzul Kabir Khan, who oversees both the Ministry of Railways and the Ministry of Road Transport and Bridges, would take the final decision.

DMTCL managing director Mohammad Abdur Rouf told New Age on Tuesday that they sought permission from the railway but were yet to get any reply.

He said that the yard would be built for a smooth operation to keep at least two trains at night and build a scissors crossing for changing tracks.

The yard is necessary for people and technical reasons, he said.

‘We are awaiting a positive decision over the yard,’ he added.

The Revised Strategic Transport Plan 2015 proposed 21 multimodal and interchange stations in the districts of Dhaka, Narayanganj, Munshiganj, Mankganj, Gazipur and Narsingdi.

As per the plan, there will be underground stations for mass rapid transit lines 1, 2 and 4, and the elevated station of the MRT line 6, said officials.

For the multimodal transport hub, Kajima Corporation has so far developed a pre-master plan.​

 

[Saif]

Drastic cut in costs of three railway megaprojects likely

Massive fund cuts are likely from three ongoing railway megaprojects as the incumbent interim government finds their bloated estimation done by the deposed Sheikh Hasina administration, officials said Tuesday. An amount of some Tk 91.00 billion is likely to be slashed from two of the proje

thefinancialexpress.com.bd

Drastic cut in costs of three railway megaprojects likely
Interim govt finds costs bloated by billions of taka during deposed govt
FHM Humayan Kabir
Published :
Oct 09, 2024 00:27
Updated :
Oct 09, 2024 00:27

Massive fund cuts are likely from three ongoing railway megaprojects as the incumbent interim government finds their bloated estimation done by the deposed Sheikh Hasina administration, officials said Tuesday.

An amount of some Tk 91.00 billion is likely to be slashed from two of the projects and the estimation of another is being scrutinized, they said.

The Ministry of Railway (MoR) under the new custodian has already asked the Bangladesh Railway (BR) to rationalise the project estimation of the ongoing ones through trimming unusual costs from unnecessary components, said a ministry official.

"We have already asked the BR to review their ongoing projects and rationalize the costs. We hope we will get a picture within shorter period about our ongoing projects," Railway Secretary Abdul Baki told the FE.

The state-run rail-service provider is likely to cut about Tk 66 billion from the Dohazari-Rami-Cox's Bazar-Ghundhum railway project while some Tk 25 billion from the Padma rail-link construction project, BR officials said.

They are working to cut out the unnecessary components and the costs from the Japan-funded Jamuna rail-bridge construction project, too, they said.

A senior MoR official said the Sheikh Hasina government undertook some unnecessary projects and some were taken with staggering costs.

"We have started reviewing our ongoing projects. We will rationalize their costs and scope of works," says a BR official about the rightsizing of public-works projects in the changed political milieus of Bangladesh after the August student-people uprising.

The funds will mainly be cut from Tk180.34-billion-cost Dohazari-Cox's Bazar-Ramu-Ghundhum project as the BR has decided not to construct Ramu- to -Ghundum part of the proposed railway line.

Out of total Tk66 billion proposed cut from the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-funded rail-track project, some Tk 25.58 billion will be saved for not building the Ramu-Ghundum part while the remaining funds will be slashed from different other components of the project, said the MoR official.

The railway-service provider has already completed the Dohazar-Cox's Bazar-Ramu railway track-setting project. But the project timeline has already been extended up to June 2025.

The Railway has suspended work on the Ramu-Ghundhum portion of the Dohazari-Cox's Bazar rail link as getting any economic benefit through it amid the ongoing Rohingya crisis and absence of connections in the Myanmar side is uncertain, officials said.

No economic benefit will come from the Ramu-Ghundhum railway line as Bangladesh's relationship with Myanmar is not so good, they said.

According to the project office, they had cut some 28.75km between Ramu and Ghundhum under the project.

The BR started implementing the project in June 2010 to connect Cox's Bazar with the rail network along with the Trans-Asian Railway corridor. The ADB is lending Tk131.15 billion for the Tk180.34-billion project.

Besides, the BR is likely to slash Tk 25 billion from the China-funded Tk 392.47-billion -cost Padma rail- link project.

"While examining, we have found that the BR has kept aside more than Tk10 million for constructing Bhanga station alone which seems to be ambitious. So, we have asked the BR to review cost of all the components of the project," said another MoR official.

Meanwhile, the project was revised within two years as it was taken up at Tk 349.89 -billion cost. But the cost was raised to Tk392.46 billion and the deadline was extended up to June 2025 from the original timeline to June 2022.

The BR is now examining the Japan-funded ongoing Tk 167.81-billion Jamuna railway -link project.

The Sheikh Hasina government undertook the Jamuna Railway Bridge project in December 2016 at a cost of Tk97.34 billion. Later, it has been revised ramping up the cost to Tk 167.81 billion, following a two-year extension.

The MoR official said, "We are also reviewing all or ongoing 29 projects along with three mega ones."​