[🇧🇩] Bangladesh Railway

Saif · Jun 21, 2025

Railway keeps incurring loss despite big allocations

The Bangladesh Railway continues to incur huge losses despite big budgetary allocations over the years.

www.newagebd.net

Railway keeps incurring loss despite big allocations
Shahin Akhter 22 June, 2025, 00:11

The Bangladesh Railway continues to incur huge losses despite big budgetary allocations over the years.

Despite the implementation of costly mega projects, the passengers are not getting much-improved train services.

Currently, Bangladesh Railway is only earning more than its targets from the sectors of passenger fare and telecom.

On the contrary, the passengers still struggle to get train tickets and travel by train roofs risking their lives during festivals.

Besides, facilities inside the trains and the stations remain minimal and insufficient, while black marketing of tickets continues.

The Bangladesh Railway is failing to reach its targets of earnings in the sectors of carrying goods, parcels, transportation and commercial, estate, scrap, and electricity.

Other special services including the cattle trains and the mango trains are yet to gain popularity.

After the formation of the railways ministry in 2011, many development projects were taken to rearrange the state-run Bangladesh Railway.

Though the Bangladesh Railway almost always incurred losses, the amount of losses increased in recent years.

Though the government increased train fares twice since 2011 – first in 2012 by 50 to 115 per cent and lastly in 2016 by 7.23 per cent on an average – with promises of improved services, overall services did not improve.

Transportation experts said that using the railway’s non-performing land assets, expanding its container services and introducing different types of commuter trains were the ways to increase the railway’s revenue earnings.

In six fiscal years between FY2018-19 and FY2023-24, the railway’s revenue earning was Tk 9,129 crore against the target of Tk 13,428 crore.

Against the earnings in these fiscal years, the railway’s expenditure was Tk 19,258 crore and the loss was Tk 10,129 crore.

During the period, the railways ministry got a total budgetary allocation of Tk 90,415 crore.

The total actual expenditure of this budget allocation was Tk 71,764 crore, out of which Tk 54,764 crore or 76.71 per cent was development expenditure.

‘Currently, Bangladesh Railway is earning Tk 1 after spending over Tk 2.5,’ said railways adviser Muhammad Fouzul Kabir Khan.

He said that they had taken initiatives to bring down the ratio between earnings and expenditure to 1: under 2.

Professor Md Shamsul Hoque of the civil engineering department of the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology said that the railway implemented different projects following feasibility studies though the railway’s losses continued.

Shamsul, also specialised in transportation engineering, said that the previous regime focused on different costly development projects without considering the necessary rolling stock and workforce to implement these projects.

The Economic Relations Division under the finance ministry also needs to be more careful while approving projects under loans, he said, and stressed the need to consider whether the projects would be able to return the loan in the future.

Mentioning that huge development had been done in the sector in the past 10 years, he said, ‘Now the railway needs to focus on operation to find out ways to generate revenue from these developments.’

Shamsul emphasised on three issues – using the railway’s non-performing land assets, expanding its container services and introducing different types of commuter trains to facilitate journeys on shorter distances – to increase the railway’s revenue earnings.

In FY2023-24, the railway earned Tk 1,348 crore from passengers’ fares against a target of earning Tk 1,339 crore in the sector.

It earned Tk 154 crore from the telecom sector against a target of earning Tk 140 crore in the same fiscal year.

During the same period, it earned Tk 239 crore from goods carrying sector against a target of Tk 394 crore.

It earned Tk 14 crore from the parcel sector against a target of earning Tk 68 crore and Tk 44 crore was earned from the transportation and commercial sector against a target of Tk 106 crore in the same fiscal year.

The railway earned Tk 69 crore from the estate sector against a target of Tk352 crore, Tk 26 crore from scrap sector against a target of Tk 41 crore, and Tk 27.45 crore from the electricity sector against a target of Tk 27.52 crore.

Adviser Fouzul Kabir Khan said that they had two ways to reduce the gap in the operating ratio – increasing the revenue income and reducing the wastage of money.

Mentioning that the railway is still leasing out its land properties at a very cheap rate, he said that they would increase the lease money and increase other revenue income from different sources including fibre optic.

For reducing the expenditure of the railway, he said that they would check different procurements and other expenses for the railway.

Fouzul Kabir Khan said that the railway was not profitable in most of the countries though Bangladesh’s railways ministry was monitoring the operating ratio to reduce the gap.

Replying to a question, he said that hiking passenger fares was the easiest way to increase revenue by creating pressure on the people.

‘We will look into that matter too. But, first of all, we need to fix the irregularities at our own homes,’ the adviser added.

Saif · Nov 15, 2025

Bangladesh Railway’s service woes persist

Its mismanaged system needs more than investment

www.thedailystar.net

Bangladesh Railway’s service woes persist
Its mismanaged system needs more than investment

VISUAL: STAR

Bangladesh Railway (BR) continues to bleed financially and fail its passengers despite years of heavy investment. According to a recent Bonik Barta report, the government currently spends over Tk 4,000 crore annually on railway operations, with much of it directed towards maintenance, cleaning, and on-board services. Yet, passengers have seen little return from this investment, as complaints about dirty trains and stations, irregular schedules, ticket black marketeering, and technical failures persist. What's more baffling is that investment in the rail sector has increased significantly over the last 10 to 15 years, yet neither its services nor its profits have improved much.

In the fiscal year 2023-24, the Ministry of Railways was allocated a total of Tk 19,010.69 crore, including both operating and development expenditure. BR's income fell to Tk 1,845 crore in FY2024-2025—down 4.15 percent from the previous year—marking its first post-pandemic negative growth. While revenues rose slightly in the first quarter of FY2025-26, losses are projected to exceed Tk 1,574 crore for the fiscal year.

Meanwhile, even at the busiest station of the country in the capital's Kamalapur, there are still not enough toilets, waiting rooms, or functioning fans. Existing facilities are unhygienic, and many passengers have little choice but to wait on crowded platforms. Similar conditions exist at regional stations. Inside trains, passengers face broken seats, unclean toilets, and overcrowded compartments, often filled with "standing" and ticketless commuters beyond official capacity. Frequent derailments and incidents of coaches detaching mid-journey indicate a serious lapse in maintenance. Such conditions contradict the official claim that the purpose of increased operating expenditure is to improve passenger service.

Experts attribute the failures to inefficiency and lack of accountability. The railways ministry's adviser further admitted that the maintenance system "is not functioning properly" and that many of the workshops lack the required technical standards. Although the ministry claims to have reduced the operating ratio from 2.4 to 1.8, the improvement has not translated into visible benefits for passengers. Furthermore, cases of wasteful procurement, including non-operational track machines and defective train models, have been reported in recent years. These incidents point to a pattern of project design driven more by bureaucratic and procurement interests than by service needs.

To address these issues, BR must move beyond ad-hoc spending and prioritise structural reforms. Regular technical audits, transparent procurement, and independent monitoring of ongoing projects are essential. Resources should be directed towards maintenance, safety upgrades, and passenger facilities rather than ill-conceived projects. Without strict accountability and long-term planning, even large budget allocations will continue to yield little improvement in railway service or its financial performance.

Saif · Dec 6, 2025

newagebd.net/post/opinion/284354/limping-railway-fails-passengers

Limping railway fails passengers

Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha

THE Bangladesh Railway remains one of the most paradoxical public institutions. Every year, more than Tk 4,000 crore is poured into its operations, with an intent to improve the quality of passenger services. Much of this money is consumed by cleanliness drives, onboard services, the maintenance of engines and coaches and the procurement of essential spare parts. Yet, the experience of passengers suggests that the institution is drifting in the opposite direction. What should have been a slow but steady march towards reliability and comfort has instead become a landscape of familiar failures.

The railway’s financial data reveal the first layer of this exhaustion. For the first time since the Covid outbreak, revenue fell into the negative territory in the 2024–25 financial year. Earnings settled at Tk 1,845 crore, a 4.15 per cent decline from that of the previous year. While the current financial year has showed a small rebound with Tk 532 crore earned in its first quarter, the trajectory is hardly encouraging. The projected loss for 2025–26 is Tk 1,574 crore and, by the admission of officials, the figure is expected to grow as the year progresses. Even if revenue rises marginally, it is far from enough to narrow the widening gap between income and expenditure.

The rationale behind heavy operational spending has always been that improved services would eventually yield an increased number of passengers, higher revenue and better cost recovery. But the puzzle remains unresolved. Investment has expanded substantially over the past decade, including major line upgrades, new stations, new bridges and the procurement of rolling stock. But the quality of services, in the perception of passengers, remains where it was years ago, if not worse in some areas.

One of the deepest fault lines runs through the ticketing system. For years, the railway has failed to establish a transparent and reliable ticket sales mechanism. On high-demand routes, the bulk of tickets seem to dissipate before ordinary passengers even reach the counters or online portals. The persistence of syndicates signals a structural failure that goes far beyond petty corruption. When a public service cannot guarantee equitable access to something as basic as a ticket, it is already sliding into irrelevance.

The disappointment continues inside the train. The Bangladesh Railway allows standing tickets amounting to 25 per cent of intercity seats. That figure alone poses questions about safety and comfort. On top of this sanctioned crowding, the presence of unticketed passengers transforms compartments into congested aisles of discomfort. Ordinary passengers find themselves squeezed between standing commuters, crying children, luggage stacked haphazardly and the constant anxiety of theft.

The condition of washrooms has been a longstanding grievance. Even new and recently refurbished coaches fall quickly into deterioration, suggesting that both user behaviour and institutional maintenance culture are failing simultaneously. Toilets remain unclean, broken fixtures stay unattended for months, floors accumulate layers of dust and dirt, and water often remains unavailable. For a service that aspires to compete with road transport, the daily realities make the railway experience unattractive.

The problem intensifies when one examines the backbone of the system: its stations. Kamalapur, the country’s busiest railway hub, stands as a symbol of both promise and decay. Its size, traffic volume and strategic importance should have placed it at the forefront of service modernisation. Instead, passengers navigate the station with a sense of compromise. Restrooms are few and even fewer are usable. Fans installed for public comfort often remain switched off. Free drinking water is available, but hygiene concerns deter most passengers. Public spaces frequently serve as gathering spots for loiterers with questionable intentions and reports of theft inside the station area are far from rare.

If this is the state of the premier station, conditions in stations in district s would show the depth of the problem. Many lack even minimal amenities expected of a public transport hub. Passengers wait outdoors without shelter, lighting is inadequate, toilets are non-existent or unusable and platforms often resemble open dumps rather than public utilities.

The most alarming trend, however, concerns safety. In recent months, incidents of derailments and the detachment of bogies or engines during travel have created an atmosphere of constant unease. These are not isolated mechanical lapses but symptoms of deeper institutional erosion: rail joints in fragile condition, sleepers that have deteriorated and inconsistent maintenance cycles pointing to systemic neglect rather than unfortunate accidents. Each derailment or bogie separation is not simply a technical failure but a stark reminder of the risks embedded in the journey itself.

A significant portion of these problems stems from the railway’s maintenance culture. The institution’s factories, workshops, and maintenance yards operate with outdated technology and inadequate quality control. When maintenance becomes a ritual rather than a responsibility, accidents become inevitable. Even among officials, there is acknowledgment that maintenance is not functioning at the standard required for a national transport network.

The issue is compounded by a shortage of engines and coaches. The system is running with rolling stock that is insufficient for current passenger demand. Even if orders are placed today, delivery takes years. The railway is stuck between its swelling demand and shrinking capacity and the result is a perpetual shortage that limits service expansion and compromises quality.

Yet, the operational ratio is used as a symbol of improvement. The ratio, previously around 2.4 meaning the railway spent Tk 2.40 for every Tk 1 earned, has reportedly been reduced to around 1.8. While this appears positive at the first glance, it reveals another uncomfortable truth: service quality is not improving in tandem with cost reduction. A lower operational ratio achieved without meaningful improvement in passenger experience indicates that the belt-tightening is happening where it should not, possibly in areas like maintenance, cleanliness and staff deployment.

The inability to meet revenue targets further destabilises the railway’s financial position. For the current fiscal year, an income target of Tk 3,173 crore was set. It has already been acknowledged that this will not be achieved, with revised expectations lowering the target to Tk 2,655 crore. Lower revenue amid rising costs makes the future trajectory of the railway even more uncertain.

All this points to a deeper structural failure. At its core, the Bangladesh Railway suffers from fragmented governance, weak internal accountability and a declining institutional ethos. Investment alone cannot repair these fractures. A modern train system is not merely an assortment of engines, coaches and rail tracks. It is a culture of discipline, cleanliness, punctuality, safety and public orientation. These are the qualities that define successful railway systems across the world.Travel guide book

The gaps are visible at every level: from the station floors to the coach interiors, from the ticket counters to the maintenance yards, from the management rooms to the rail lines themselves. The institution’s problems have become chronic because the corrective mechanisms needed to address them have never been allowed to mature.

The interim government assumed office with significant public expectations. Citizens believed that even if large-scale structural changes were unrealistic within a short time, at least the visible mismanagement, inefficiency and everyday suffering of passengers would be addressed. Instead, the system has continued operating in its familiar state of inertia.

If the railway is to be revitalised, the transformation cannot be cosmetic. It must begin with maintenance reforms, accountability within workshops, transparent ticketing, proper staff monitoring and a disciplined service culture. Clean coaches and functioning toilets should not be luxuries. Safe rail joints and reliable bogies should not depend on luck. Efficient stations should not be exceptions.

The Bangladesh Railway stands at a crossroads, pulled between its importance and dysfunction. Without a decisive cultural shift inside the institution, the country will continue pouring money into a system that delivers little more than frustration. A public railway should be a symbol of national progress, not a daily reminder of structural decay.

HM Nazmul Alam, an academic, journalist and political analyst, teaches at International University of Business Agriculture and Technology.

Saif · Sunday at 8:17 PM

Time to open railway tracks to private freight operators

Bangladesh’s export economy now moves faster than its railways can carry it. Factories, ports and private logistics firms have modernised to meet global demand.

www.thedailystar.net

Time to open railway tracks to private freight operators

18 January 2026, 09:00 AM
By Ahamedul Karim Chowdhury

‘Bangladesh does not need to sell its tracks or stations. It needs to use them more intelligently.’ PHOTO: SOBUZ KHAN/WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

Bangladesh’s export economy now moves faster than its railways can carry it. Factories, ports and private logistics firms have modernised to meet global demand. However, rail freight remains stuck in a system designed for a smaller, slower economy. Container trains bound for Chattogram are delayed, cancelled or pushed aside for passenger services. Inland container depots (ICDs) clog up. Highways choke. Ports feel the strain.

In an earlier article, I argued that ICDs cannot become engines of export growth unless freight trains are reliable, predictable and commercially driven. That warning has only grown more urgent. Bangladesh Railway is expected to support a rapidly expanding export economy while operating under rules that prioritise passenger trains, tolerate chronic locomotive shortages and treat freight as expendable. A container train booked for tonight must not vanish because a passenger locomotive failed elsewhere or the train was politically prioritised. Yet, freight guarantees are impossible under the monopoly system, as Bangladesh Railway lacks dedicated locomotives for freights and prioritises passengers over cargo.

This is why the debate must move beyond procurement delays and management shortcomings to a deeper reform: opening Bangladesh’s railway tracks to private freight train operators.

There is no compelling reason why Bangladeshi logistics firms, exporters or foreign investors should not be allowed to run their freight trains—using their own locomotives, wagons and crews—on tracks owned and maintained by Bangladesh Railway. This would operate under transparent, regulated access agreements. The railway would retain ownership of infrastructure, control safety and manage traffic. What it would give up is its monopoly over freight operations.

This may sound radical, but globally, it is routine. India opened container train operations to private companies nearly two decades ago. Today, multiple firms run their own trains on Indian Railways’ tracks, paying access charges while investing billions in wagons, terminals and networks. Across Europe, public and private freight operators compete on national rail systems. In the United Kingdom, all freight trains are privately operated even though the tracks remain state-owned.

Russia and parts of China allow private ownership of locomotives and wagons on public corridors. Even Pakistan—once as closed as Bangladesh—now permits private freight trains in exchange for track access fees.

None of these countries privatised their railways. They separated infrastructure from operations.

That distinction matters. Bangladesh does not need to sell its tracks or stations. It needs to use them more intelligently. Allowing third-party freight operators would transform Bangladesh Railway from a cash-strapped monopoly into a network manager earning revenue from every train that runs, regardless of ownership.

The economic logic is straightforward. Bangladesh Railway struggles to procure enough locomotives for both passenger and freight services. Purchases take years. Maintenance backlogs grow. Every new passenger train further erodes freight capacity. When private operators bring their own engines, national capacity expands almost overnight—without a single taka of public investment in rolling stock, i.e., locomotives, carriages, wagons, etc.

Under this system, risk shifts from taxpayers to investors. Efficiency and innovation are rewarded. Reliability will improve even more dramatically. Private freight operators live and die by performance. A shipping line or garment exporter will not tolerate missed schedules. A private company that fails to deliver loses customers and revenue. A monopoly, particularly a government entity, does not face the same discipline.

That difference alone would turn rail freight from an unreliable afterthought into a professional logistics service.

Critics often warn that private trains would create chaos or profiteering. That happens only when regulation is weak. In every successful system, the state sets the rules: track access charges, safety standards, scheduling priorities and dispute-resolution mechanisms.

Companies compete on speed, cost and service quality—not political influence. Bangladesh already regulates airlines, ports and telecommunications. Railways do not require immunity from modern governance.

There is also a persistent fear that Bangladesh Railway would lose revenue or control. The opposite is more likely.

Instead of relying on erratic freight volumes and subsidies, the railway would earn stable income from track access, signalling, yard use and workshop services. Each additional private train would generate revenue without requiring new locomotives or staff. These funds could be reinvested in tracks, signalling and bottleneck removal, thus improving the network for both passengers and freight.

For ICDs, the impact would be decisive. Whether Kamalapur, Dhirasram, Ghorasal or future terminals, inland ports cannot function without dependable rail links. Exporters do not care who owns the locomotive. They care whether containers reach ports on time.

Under an open-access system, an ICD could contract directly with a private operator for daily—or multiple daily—block trains, backed by penalties for non-performance. Such commercial certainty is impossible under a monopoly.

There is also a broader national interest at stake. Bangladesh’s highways are increasingly clogged with container trucks, fuel tankers, and bulk cargo. Every ton shifted to rail reduces congestion, accidents, fuel consumption, and emissions. Rail is inherently more efficient for long-distance freight, yet its share keeps shrinking because service is unreliable.

Private operators would have strong incentives to capture this traffic, invest in modern wagons and build integrated rail-based supply chains.

The transition must be carefully designed. The draft Bangladesh Railway Act, allowing private ownership of rolling stock and train operations, is a promising start. But it must be backed by clear rules on access, safety, liability and pricing. Safeguards against cartelisation are essential. Regulation must be strong enough to withstand pressure from all sides.

A sensible approach would be to begin with pilot corridors—especially the Dhaka–Chattogram route, which carries most container traffic. Selected private operators could run trains under strict safety and performance conditions, while Bangladesh Railway retains full control over dispatching and network management. Results would be quickly visible, as they have been elsewhere.

The real risk lies not in reform, but in inertia. As long as freight depends on spare locomotives left over from passenger services, Bangladesh will never have a dependable rail logistics network. Exporters will continue shifting to roads. ICDs will remain underused. Public rail investments will deliver diminishing returns.

Opening railway tracks to private freight operators is not an ideological debate. It is practical. Bangladesh’s economy has outgrown a 19th-century model in which one state agency tries—and fails—to do everything. The modern world runs on networks, partnerships and regulated competition. If ICDs, ports and exporters are to thrive, they need a railway that delivers, not one that apologises.

Bangladesh has already transformed ports, power and telecommunications through public–private partnership. Rail freight should not be the last sector left behind.

Ahamedul Karim Chowdhury is adjunct faculty at Bangladesh Maritime University and former head of the Kamalapur Inland Container Depot (ICD) and the Pangaon Inland Container Terminal under Chittagong Port Authority.

Saif · Tuesday at 7:38 PM

BR in need of electric traction for transition

The Bangladesh Railway (BR) continues to lag far behind global trends in railway electrification, despite adopting a formal policy more than a decade ago for transition from diesel-powered trains to electric traction. While many countries have successfully modernised their rail networks through ele

thefinancialexpress.com.bd

BR in need of electric traction for transition

Wasi Ahmed
Published :
Jan 20, 2026 23:00
Updated :
Jan 20, 2026 23:00

The Bangladesh Railway (BR) continues to lag far behind global trends in railway electrification, despite adopting a formal policy more than a decade ago for transition from diesel-powered trains to electric traction. While many countries have successfully modernised their rail networks through electrification, BR's efforts remain fragmented, poorly sequenced and largely confined to paper. Ongoing projects still prioritise track upgrades without integrating electric traction, resulting in higher costs, lost time and missed opportunities for efficiency.

Railway electrification is no longer an experimental concept. More than 70 countries worldwide operate electric train services, benefiting from lower operating costs, reduced emissions, and improved speed and reliability. In contrast, Bangladesh Railway has yet to move beyond a handful of specialised or pilot initiatives. At present, only one electric commuter train project is expected to reach the physical implementation stage next year, underscoring how slowly the transition is taking place.

A recent report published in this newspaper, quoting railway sources, reveals that the BR has already launched two massive projects on the Dhaka-Chattogram rail corridor aimed at converting the existing double-lane metre-gauge tracks into dual-gauge lines. The combined estimated cost of these projects stands at Tk 333.08 billion. The two segments include the Laksam-Chinki Astana-Chattogram section, costing Tk 187.21 billion, and the Tongi-Bhairab Bazar-Akhaura section, estimated at Tk 145.87 billion. Both projects are set to be included in the current fiscal year.

However, critics argue that the most glaring shortcoming of these initiatives is the absence of electric traction components. Had electrification been incorporated at the planning and execution stages, BR could have carried out track development and electrification simultaneously-saving substantial time and money. Retrofitting electric infrastructure at a later stage will inevitably push costs higher and prolong disruption to services.

Railway officials acknowledge that priorities have been misaligned. According to them, immediate focus should be on developing the so-called "chord line," which would connect Cumilla to Laksam over a distance of approximately 95 kilometres. Once operational, this link would reduce travel time between the two points from nearly five hours to about two and a half hours, dramatically improving passenger convenience and network efficiency.

Electric traction, officials note, offers long-term economic advantages despite its higher upfront costs. While electric locomotives require significant initial investment for procurement and infrastructure, their maintenance and overhauling expenses are roughly 50 per cent lower than those of diesel locomotives. Electric trains rely on transformers, traction motors, and sensor-based systems that are simpler to maintain and require less downtime compared to diesel engines, which depend heavily on mechanical spare parts. Over time, these savings translate into lower operating costs and improved service reliability.

The Bangladesh Railway formally included electric traction in its revised Railway Master Plan, approved in January 2018. The Dhaka-Chattogram corridor was identified as the top priority for electrification. Yet, meaningful progress has been slow. Studies on electric traction along the Narayanganj-Dhaka-Tongi-Joydevpur-Chattogram route only began recently. So far, partial studies covering the Narayanganj to Joydevpur section have been completed. Meanwhile, a separate feasibility study for the chord line-also considering electrification-was initiated in 2023 and has now reached its final stage.

Experts argue that the lack of foresight has already resulted in costly inefficiencies. The BR was compelled to implement a dual-gauge project on the Dhaka-Chattogram corridor shortly after completing a single-lane metre-gauge track only a few years earlier. This reactive approach reflects poor long-term planning. Currently, dual-gauge development has been completed only between Akhaura and Laksam, leaving the rest of the corridor inconsistent and operationally constrained.

In addition, a dedicated electric traction project for the Narayanganj-Dhaka-Joydevpur corridor is projected to cost Tk 39.33 billion. While this is a positive step, critics note that such standalone projects further fragment the network rather than creating a unified electrified corridor.

A senior railway official stressed the need for a comprehensive and integrated planning framework. He pointed to the Joydevpur-Ishwardi project, where electric traction has been incorporated at the detailed design stage, as a model that should be replicated across all major developments. He also highlighted that BR's planned bypass line from Dhirasram to Tongi-linked to the proposed Inland Container Depot (ICD)-offers an opportunity to prioritise electric traction on the chord line. Doing so would connect northern districts directly to Chattogram, creating an efficient freight corridor critical for economic growth.

For the Bangladesh Railway, the challenge is no longer about policy formulation but about execution. Without a visionary, integrated approach that combines track development with electrification from the outset, the BR risks repeating costly mistakes. Delayed electrification, missed opportunities in ongoing projects, and an excessive focus on isolated schemes continue to undermine the country's rail modernisation goals.

If Bangladesh is to build a railway system for the future, electric traction must move from policy documents to construction sites. This should get embedded in every major rail project at the planning stage. Only then can the BR deliver faster, cleaner and more cost-effective rail services aligned with global standards.