Eighteen coaches, the first shipment of a project to buy 200 broad-gauge (BG) passenger carriages, have arrived from India to join Bangladesh Railway’s fleet.
The rake carrying the coaches reached Darshana International Railway Station in Chuadanga at about 2:45pm on Friday, 16 October. Officials hope the new coaches will raise the quality and capacity of passenger services in the west of the country.
India’s RITES Limited is supplying the coaches under the project to procure 200 broad-gauge passenger carriages for Bangladesh Railway. After the necessary work at the Rail Coach Factory in Kapurthala, Punjab, the first shipment set off for Bangladesh at about 12:15am on the night of Monday, 12 October.
Bangladesh Railway officials received the coaches after they reached Darshana on Friday afternoon. A three-member delegation from the Indian supplier RITES, led by traffic inspector Subhajit Ghosh, was present.
Receiving the coaches for Bangladesh were Paksey divisional commercial officer Mohammad Hasina Khatun, divisional commercial officer Faisal Mahmud, Paksey RNB commandant Rezanur Rahman, divisional mechanical engineer Mohammad Rabiul Islam and Darshana International Railway Station manager Mamunur Rashid, along with other officials.
Bangladesh Railway divisional mechanical engineer (DME) Mohammad Rabiul Islam said: “Of the 200 coaches, the first 18 entered Bangladesh this afternoon. These are coaches we have badly wanted. We hope that once they are added, passenger services in the west of Bangladesh will improve and they will help raise the railway’s income.”
He said the 18 coaches in the first shipment comprise two AC sleepers, three AC chair coaches, 11 non-AC chair coaches and two power cars.
On the coaches’ first run, Rabiul Islam said they ran quite smoothly while the rake was moving, with no unusual noise, and he was hopeful about their quality.
According to railway sources, once the coaches are cleared at Darshana they will be sent to the Saidpur railway workshop. There, plans are in place for a locomotive, crew, tool van and other arrangements to complete the necessary de-processing, commissioning and trial runs.
Officials expect the new coaches to make journeys more comfortable, raise passenger capacity on the western routes and add a new dimension to the railway’s service.
Darshana station manager Mamunur Rashid said the first 18 of the 200 broad-gauge passenger carriages reached Darshana on Friday afternoon. They will be sent on to their destination once the necessary work is done, and the rest of the coaches will come to Bangladesh in stages.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report