Bullet train/High Speed train in Bangladesh

Bullet train/High Speed train in Bangladesh

In 2020, Bangladesh Railway and China agreed to build a High Speed Rail Network between Dhaka to Chittagong, in future which will be extended to connect Cox's Bazar. Undoubtedly this project will be the most expensive infrastructure development project in the history of Bangladesh. Dhaka to Chittagong section of it, which is around 220 km long, will cost more than 11 billion US dollars and Chittagong to Cox's Bazar section will cost around four billion dollars in the future. But, Is it a good time or even necessary under the current circumstances of Bangladesh's Economy and Railway to build this massive project? Or is it another diplomatic win for China?

 

 Before getting into the main article I recommend you to Click Here and read about the Dhaka-Chittagong rail line's condition first. It will help you to understand the background of the story. 

 

Saudi High Speed Train 

China’s Loan History With Bangladesh 

In 2016 Chinese President Xi Jinping came to Bangladesh with a huge wallet, offering 22 billion dollars of loan for infrastructure and other development projects. A big portion of this loan was proposed for Bangladesh Railway.  The offers China had for Bangladesh Railway was properly designed as they could gain more benefits from it in future.

In 2016 China offered to finance

on three major routes of Bangladesh Railway to upgrade it. They were:

✅        Joydevpur To Ishwardi dual gauge double line. (Click Here to read about it)

✅       Joydevpur To Mymensingh Dual gauge line

And the most controversial section

✅      Akhaura to Sylhet Dual gauge line.

 There was a condition for these loans, all these projects had to be done by any Chinese construction company otherwise the loan wouldn't be issued. This particular condition gave the Chinese companies an opportunity to ask way too much money for the projects and so does it happened.  

However, The Prime Minister’s office of Bangladesh studied further on these projects and found that Chinese companies were demanding way too much than the possible cost. That’s why the PM's office asked them to reduce the cost.

Hearing this the Chinese companies got themselves out of these projects and thus  the situation became very complicated.  Railway was negotiating on these three projects for five years( till 2021). So actually what happened is that Bangladesh Railway again got backward and it will cost more time and money to improve railway’s capacity.  So the sufferings and delays people are facing on this routes isn't  going to be solved soon.

 

 

Dhaka Chittagong Highspeed/Bullet train

 

Dhaka-Chattogram rail route is called the most important rail network of the country. 5 intercity and 3 mail/local trains up-down on it carrying approximately 16-20 thousand passengers daily. Railway also operate freight trains on this route carrying goods and Containers between the capital and the port city. But there are some big issues on this route. First, it’s metre gauge (MG). Distance between this two cities via rail is 321 km. Right Now, Tongi (Dhaka)-Bhairab Bazar 64 km has MG double line. From Bhairab Bazar to Akhaura 26 km is metre gauge single line. Then Akhaura-Laksam 71 km metre gauge track is under construction and after finishing it will be dual gauge double line track. Then again from Laksam to Chattogram 107 km is double line MG (Metre Gauge) track.

 

Railway needed to double the whole section between Dhaka-Chattogram with broad gauge tracks immediately. But somehow railway officials didn’t show any interest on this project for a long time. Funny thing is that railway not only ignored the most needed project, they responded to China's offer of creating a new dual gauge line from Akhaura to Sylhet which is totally unnecessary and unusable until making Broad gauge line from Tongi to Akhaura.  (A dual gauge line can operate broad and metre both gauge trains)

So the first question is, Were the railway officials blind? didn't they  have proper Idea about Railway at all?

Chinese company who was selected to make new rail line between Akhaura to Sylhet asked 2 billion US dollars for the project which was totally irrational. First of all, with only 400 to 500 million dollars the old tracks can be converted into Broad or dual gauge track. Making a new line is totally unnecessary.  Secondly Railway doesn't have Broad gauge line from Tongi to Akhaura. So how they will operate broad gauge trains from Dhaka to Sylhet?  Trains can't fly, do they?  

Currently railway operates 22-25 trains on  Dhaka to Chittagong  route everyday. By converting this whole route into Broad gauge or dual gauge double line, Railway will be able to operate 88 trains a day. And with better quality track Railway could operate trains in higher speed like 140 to 160 km per hour even with the diesel locomotives. With proper transparency it wasn't impossible to make a double line between Dhaka to Chittagong with one-tenth cost of the high-speed train project. But Railway officials were totally silent, they kind of gone to hibernation on this matter.

Recently when it was totally announced that China will make High Speed Rail network between Dhaka to Cox's Bazar via Chittagong, suddenly Railway officials broke their hibernation and declare that they are planning to make a new conventional Rail Network between Dhaka to Chittagong. My second question is, why it took so long ? and why it has to be granted after the high speed project?

 

Let's see the cost of this two projects and services we will get from it.

The high speed train will be able to carry 50,000 passenger a day between Dhaka Chittagong , with minimum cost of 2000 taka per passenger. Speed on this track will be 300 to 350 km per hour and will take around 80 minutes.

 

On the other hand, currently Railway operates 5 metre gauge Intercity trains. With this a passenger can travel between this two city at the cost of only 350 to 1200 taka and takes around six hours. With  conventional double tracks and trains Railway could easily handle more than 70,000 passengers a day and a big number of freight trains too. And it will take less than three hours. Because current Broad gauge rolling stocks are capable of taking load of 120-140 km/h. So 321 km is doable in 3-3 and half hours. 

Though Bangladesh is a developing country, 90% of it's people belongs to lower middle class and lower class family who can't afford 2000 Taka ticket. Till now there are lots of people who even can't afford 350 Tata ticket for a conventional Intercity train. They choose the local trains which cost around 100 takas.

So another question of is that, who would be the passengers of this high speed train?

There is another thing . To cover the high speed rail line project’s cost, government postponed Dhaka to Chittagong Expressway's construction. Which is badly needed for our country.

I am not against this high speed train project. I deeply believe that, this not the proper time for this huge project , while the whole world is struggling with the  economy along with Bangladesh.

Whether a problem can be solved in just two billion dollars government is willing to spend more than 20 billion . But it will not solve the problem properly, on the other end it will make it even more complicated. A expressway between Dhaka to Chittagong was needed more than the high speed train.  At the end of the day citizens will have to pay the debt. Taxes and prizes will increase and people will suffer. So who is getting the benefits?

It's clear that with diplomatic pressure and cunning plans, China has able to make us fool again. Our officials and Bureaucrats disappointed us.

But the story isn't end here. Between  2021-2022 during the feasibility study of highspeed rail project Railway Department step aside from this project showing multiple reasons. Railway minister Nurul Islam Sujan said during on of his press conference that railway isn't considering about this project anymore ( March 2022). But again in January 2023 Railway asked World Bank to provide technical assistance for this project. On the other hand Govt is also planning to expand Dhaka-Chattogram Highway from 4 to 8 lane and Chattogram to Cox's Bazar-Matarbari Highway to 4 lane Expressway (  Approximately 490 kilometers) which will cost 9-10 Billion Dollars. So future of both of these project isn't certain. 

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