Tuhin Shubhra Adhikary

While the Bangladesh Railway has taken and implemented dozens of projects to expand its rail lines and acquire new locomotives and carriages, its workshops remained neglected for years.

After observing the slow pace of a project under which rail tracks are being laid on a 19km stretch between Faridpur and Magura, a report prepared by a government body has accused the railway authorities of serious lacking in their monitoring.

A major part of the Dhaka Elevated Expressway will finally open to traffic in September, more than a decade after the project was initiated to ease the capital’s perennial traffic congestion.

Dhaka-Tongi-Joydebpur railway expansion project taken without feasibility study, revised and delayed several times leading to cost escalation

It has been 16 years since an initiative to relocate the oversaturated Kamalapur Inland Container Depot (ICD) to Gazipur’s Dhirasram was taken but the project is yet to see the light of day.

The Dhaka-Aricha Highway may face long tailbacks and see a rise in road crashes if a metro rail line is built on the highway as proposed by the metro rail authorities, according to engineers of the Roads and Highways Department.

The work to expand the Sylhet-Tamabil highway to a four-lane one will finally start around three years after the project was approved, with the goal of improving the country’s intercity travel and cross-border connectivity.

Every time Bappi Hasan takes a ride to his Shariatpur home crossing the Padma Bridge, one thing crosses his mind: had the bridge been built 20 years ago, he could have managed to ensure better treatment for his deceased mother.

In response to India’s proposal for movement of its trains through Bangladesh, the Bangladesh Railway, in a letter, has requested the neighbouring country to give a clearer outline.

Taking the benefit of a 172-year-old law, thousands of vehicles carrying government officials are not paying tolls on roads and bridges under the Roads and Highways Department (RHD), costing the state a huge amount of revenue.

The government’s decision to allow Jamaat-e-Islami back in active politics, instead of bringing it to book for its 1971 role, will be suicidal for the ruling Awami League and above all, the country, said freedom fighters, families of the martyrs and war crimes researchers.

Expansion work on highways, short holidays, and roadside cattle markets are likely to cause sufferings to north-bound Eid holidaymakers.

More than one in five buses of private operators running in the capital have no valid fitness certificates.

The roads that have been in “poor, bad or very bad” conditions got worse over the last one year, dealing a setback to the Roads and Highways Department.

Over 74,000 registered buses, trucks and other commercial vehicles are past their economic lifespan set by the government.

By failing to buy 70 locomotives over the last 11 years, Bangladesh Railway (BR) has shown how the non-implementation of a single project can hurt the organisation’s overall services and cause huge financial losses.

The government will build a 1.07km underpass in the capital’s airport area to link Dhaka airport terminals, railway, BRT, MRT stations and the Hajj camp.

The government has decided that buses and trucks will be scrapped after 20 and 25 years of being on the road.

 The Dhaka-Cox’s Bazar rail line via Chattogram is likely to open this September, but the rail connectivity between the capital and the tourist district may not be smooth before 2028.

Vehicle registration in Bangladesh has declined to an eight-year low in the first four months of this year, owing to consumer tightening their belts and escalated prices fueled by higher import costs.