Wagon ferry service resumes as Jamuna regains navigability
Railway wagon ferry service between Balashi Ghat in Gaibandha district and Bahadurabad Ghat in Jamalpur district has resumed after long seven months. Photo shows wagons being loaded on a barge at Balashi Ghat on Thursday.Photo: STAR
Bangladesh Railway authorities have resumed wagon ferry service between Balashi Ghat in Gaibandha district and Bahadurabad Ghat in Jamalpur district as the Jamuna River attained required navigability with the start of the rains. Ferry communication on the route remained suspended for long seven months from November 15 last year due to sharp decline of water level in the Jamuna. The service, meant for goods carrying trains plying the routes between the country's northern region and the capital, is now provided for transport of food grains supplied by the government authorities and railway goods, said a marine official. The facility will be extended for the traders and businessman if they are interested, he said. Under the first consignment after resumption of the ferry service, workers loaded 30 wagons with wheat from Burimari land port and the train left Balashi Ghat at 5:00pm on Thursday, said Mosharaf Hossain, stationmaster of Balashi Ghat railway station. The ferry services on Balashi Ghat -- Bahadurabad Ghat route practically continue for only five months during the rainy season, while it remains suspended during the remaining seven months due to serious decline in the water level, he added. When the railway wagon ferries are in service fertiliser traders of northern districts can carry goods from Jamuna fertiliser factory for reasonable fair, but they have to bear much higher cost for carrying it by road during the suspension of the ferry service, said Abdul Latif Hakkani, president of Gaibandha Fertiliser Dealers Association. Cross sections of people have demanded sufficient dredging of the silted up river routes to arrange round the year railway ferry services both for passengers and wagons. Anchored at Balashi Ghat for years, several ferryboats including those for passengers and wagons are gradually decaying due to remaining unused long, said Jahedul Islam, a local college teacher. On July 15 in 2005, the railway authorities declared passenger ferry service on Balashi Ghat -- Bahadurabad Ghat route abandoned on the grounds of recurring losses.
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