Amazing view of
Bangladeshi Train /
Bangladesh Rail way.
Type:
Departmental of the
Government of Bangladesh
Industry:
Railways and Locomotives
Founded :
1862
Headquarters:
Dhaka, Bangladesh
Area served: Bangladesh
Key people: Md.
Amzad Hossain,
Director General of
Bangladesh Railway[1]
Services:
Rail transport
Revenue: ৳4,
456.24 million.
Profit Decrease: ৳2,494.62 million
Number of employees: 40,264 (
2015)
Parent: Government of Bangladesh
Divisions: 2 Railway
Zones (
East and West)
Website: www.railway.gov.bd
Bangladesh Railway (
Bengali:
বাংলাদেশ রেলওয়ে), (reporting mark BR), is the state-owned rail transport agency of Bangladesh. It operates and maintains the entire railway network of the country. BR is controlled by the
Directorate General of Bangladesh Railway under the
Ministry of Railways along with Bangladesh Railway
Authority (
BRA) and which works for policy guidance of BR.
Key features of BR are the coexistence of several gauges,
Broad gauge,
Metre gauge and dual gauge, and the separation of the system by the
Jamuna River into a
Western and
Eastern Zone of operations with only one bridge, the
2003 Jamuna Bridge, connecting the two zones. Bangladesh Railway covers a length of 2,855 route kilometres and employs 34,168 people. BR operates international, inter-city and suburban rail systems on its multi-gauge network.
History:
Railway operation in today's Bangladesh began on
15 November 1862 when 53.11 kilometres of 5 ft
6 in (1,676 mm) (broad gauge) line were opened for traffic between Dorshona of
Chuadanga District and Jogotee of
Kushtia District. The next 14.98 kilometres 1,
000 mm (3 ft
3 3⁄8 in) (metre gauge) line was opened for traffic on 4 January 1885. In 1891, the construction of then
Bengal Assam Railway was taken up by the
British Government assistance but that was later on taken over by the Bengal Assam Railway
Company. On 1 July
1895, two sections of metre gauge lines were opened between
Chittagong and
Comilla, a length of 149.89 kilometres and between
Laksam Upazila and
Chandpur District, a length of 50.89 kilometres.
Railway Companies formed in
England took up the construction and operation of these sections in middle and late
19th century]
At time of the partition of
India in
1947, Bengal-Assam Railway was split up and the portion of the system, about 2,603.92 kilometres fell within the boundary of then
East Pakistan and control remained with the central
Government of Pakistan.
Later with the effect from
1 February 1961,
Eastern Bengal Railway was renamed as
Pakistan Eastern Railway. Then in 1962, the control of Pakistan Eastern Railway was transferred from the
Central Government to the
Government of East Pakistan and placed under the management of a
Railway Board with the effect from the financial year 1962–63 by the presidential
Order of 9 June 1962.
As of 2005, the total length of railroad is 2,855 kilometres.Of that, 660 km are broad gauge tracks (mostly in the western region), 1,830 km are metre gauge tracks (mostly in the central and eastern regions) and
365 km are dual gauge tracks.The gauge problem is being tackled by adding third rails to the most important broad and metre gauge routes, so that they become dual gauge.
A major road-rail bridge at
Jamuna opened in
1998 to connect the previously detached east and west rail networks in dual gauge.[8] On
March 2008, the broad gauge reached
Dhaka, the national capital. Funding is being sought to upgrade the network and transform Bangladesh Railway into a profitable business. BR exceeded its target revenue earnings in the fiscal year
2007–2008.
Organisational structure:
After independence, the railway was first supervised by a Railway Board which was abolished in
1982. Thereafter, the BR came under the jurisdiction of the Railway
Division of the
Ministry of Communications with the
Secretary of the Division working as the Director General of BR. In
1995, instead of being the part of the
Ministry, BR came under control of a professional Director General supervised by the Bangladesh Railway Authority that is chaired by the
Minister of Railways.
BR is divided into two zones,
East & West, each under control of a general manager who is accountable to the Director General of Bangladesh Railway. The two zones have their separate departments for operation, maintenance, and finances.
Each zone is divided into two divisions that contain departments for
Personnel,
Transportation,
Commercial,Finance Mechanical, Way and
Works Signaling &
Telecommunication, Electrical, Medical, etc. Each zone also has its
Workshop Divisions, located at Pahartali and Saidpur respectively. A locomotive workshop is located at Parbatipur for broad and metre gauge locomotives.
BR manages its own Railway
Training Academy. A separate Directorate under the Ministry of Communications is charged to inspect different works of BR in relation to safety.
- published: 29 Mar 2016
- views: 112