Tuhin Shubhra Adhikary

Whenever a fatal accident occurs, the road safety issue draws the attention of the people right away. They vent their anger on roads and social media, probe committees are formed, meetings held at different forums, recommendations made and directives given.

Though most of the trains running in the country’s northwestern and southern regions face delay mainly due to inadequate capacity of railway tracks, Bangladesh Railway is adding new trains in the regions without proper assessment, worsening the situation further.

Bangladesh and India have decided in principle to launch direct bus services on Dhaka-Gangtok and Dhaka-Darjeeling routes via Siliguri.

Construction work on two more metro rail lines will begin soon as the government aims to reduce traffic congestion and pollution in the capital.

The road transport and bridges ministry has started working on the prime minister’s directives to collect tolls from vehicles plying the four-lane highways, a move that is likely to eventually increase people’s cost of transportation.

The Dhaka-Chattogram highway expansion project is a classic case of how poor planning and bad decisions can cause a huge waste of public money.

Almost a month after the formation of a “high level” taskforce, initiated to curb road accidents and bring discipline to the transport section, the government is yet to issue a circular or gazette in this regard.

The government is looking to use the rooftops of factories and public agencies to generate about 300MW of clean electricity through solar photovoltaics (PV) -- a move that can slash emissions and dependency on fossil fuel.

Slow pace of data collection by field officials is holding back the Roads and Highways Department’s (RHD) initiative to create a database for automatically assessing the condition of bridges and culverts and suggesting remedial actions.

Bangladesh Railway has started working to increase the number of trips between Bangladesh and India.

The government is going to set up another 21 weighbridges on major highways to check overloading as the practice is causing damage to roads and bridges.

The Roads and Highways Department wants Tk 480.57 crore to properly repair about 1,000km of flood-damaged roads and highways.

To spend Eid back home in Dinajpur, Sultan Mahmud and his family members started from the capital’s Gabtoli around 10:00pm on Friday.

Eid holidaymakers heading for south-western and northern districts endured sufferings yesterday due to suspension of ferry services on a major route and delays in some train schedules.

Although 12 ridesharing service providing companies got approval of Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) till yesterday, only two received enlistment certificate.

Although most of the CNG-run auto-rickshaws operate in the capital without following metered fare, a drivers’ organisation now demands hiking the fare in line with the increased prices of gas and daily essentials.

After last year’s unprecedented demonstration for safer roads, different government bodies, police, and transport leaders made a series of lofty promises.

Although the old High Court buildings were declared “risky” more than a year ago, the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) and its Chief Prosecutor’s Office have been operating their daily proceedings there, exposing hundreds of people to serious risk of accident.

The impasse over financing of the expansion of 214-kilometre Dhaka-Sylhet Highway into four lanes is likely to end soon, as Asian Develop-ment Bank has given “consent” to fund the project, officials said.

Around 400kms of roads and highways under the Roads and Highways Depart-ment have been damaged by the floods across the country.