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Risky railway

Old engines, rundown coaches offering passengers more shock than service

Shah naz Parveen
Bangladesh Railway (BR). still operating with age-old and ramshackle locomotives and coaches, now grapples with increasing number of commuters.
Besides, many of its engines and coaches have already exceeded their average economic life.
The BR now has 286 train engines, of which over 45 percent are 35 years old while the average economic life of a locomotive is 20 years
About 80 engines, which are still being used, were procured before the country's independence whereas only 79 are less than 20 years old.
Of the 1,400 passenger coaches of the BR. about 70 percent is available for regular use while the rest are left in the yards behind railway depots and workshops awaiting maintenance. Over 20 percent of the existing coaches exceeded their 35-year economic life.
Moreover, the number of locomotives and coaches have decreased since the country's independence while the number of rail users has been increasing every year-
In 1970. the number of locomotives was 486 and passenger coaches 1,643.
BR officials said a well-functioning locomo-tive is capable of hauling about 24 coaches at a time. But the BR often runs a few local trains with only three to four carriages each due to I lack of operable coaches.
BR Director General Md Belayet Hossain said most of the locomotives break down often. They require more 'down time' in workshops than before in recent times putting pressure on the existing fleet.
"The limited number of locomotives and coaches have to endure immense pressure to meet the increasing demand. We often fail to send those to workshops for routine maintenance causing frequent breakdowns of locomotives these days," he said.
Because of the rundown condition, the BR has to spend more money for maintenance of coaches and locomotives with declining average speed, he added.
However, Belayet said there are plans to increase the number of locomotives within the next fiscal year.
"The current government prioritises Bangladesh Railway. There are plans to modernise it. We are trying our best to improve the service," the BR director general said.
The BR procured a total of 10 locomotives last time in 2005 with financial assistance of Economic Development Cooperation Fund of Korea, he said.
Another 11 locomotives will be purchased within the next financial year with the help of Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) while the World Bank will give assistance to procure 15 more.
Besides, a total of 260 coaches will be refurbished within the next fiscal year.
The BR currently runs 259 daily passenger train services, of which 68 are intercity, 64 express and 127 local services covering 440 stations in 44 districts. The number of daily freight trains stands at 49. Besides, there is Maitree Express service connecting Dhaka with Kolkata.
The railway carried about 53.8 million passengers last year.