Tangail Correspondent

A special train today crossed the newly built Jamuna Railway Bridge in three minutes marking the opening of a new window for railway communication.

“From now at least 88 trains will be able to cross the railway bridge at a higher speed and uninterruptedly. This has opened a new window for the railway sector,” Bangladesh Railways Director General Afzal Hossain told the opening ceremony.

Project director Al Fattah M Masudur Rahman said the train that marked the bridge’s inauguration began its journey from Tangail’s Ibrahimabad station at 11:40am and crossed the 4.8 km bridge with 120 kmh and reached Sayedabad station before the expected time.

He said through formally opening of the newly constructed railway bridge, a new window is opened for people of northern region for smooth movement across the country.

“It’s a major advancement in the country’s rail connectivity,” a Rajshahi bound passenger said expressing his feeling onboard the train.

He said although train fare would increase a little but passengers need to comfortable and hassle free journey expecting the trains to maintain schedules.

Talking to BSS some local traders said passengers and goods suppliers in northwestern region were happy with the bridge as the connectivity would enable them to supply their agricultural and other consumer products to Dhaka every day in a shorter period.

Earlier, railway secretary M Fahimul Islam inaugurated the longest railway bridge in a simple ceremony held at Imbrahimabad railway station in Tangail as the chief guest.

With the opening of the bridge train fare will be increased due to pontage charge, which is realized in the Padma Bridge as well.

Passengers on board train crossed the Jamuna Railway Bridge have to pay pontage charge based of seat category.

The railway authorities prepared a route-based fare chart under which passengers will be required to pay Tk 45 to Tk. 160, depending on the class of the train seats as pontage charge.

The secretary said, earlier, heavy goods trains could not ply on the Jamuna Multipurpose Bridge’s railway tracks while the new dedicated railweay bridge would address the problem.

According to the project, trains were on movement on the 4.8 km long double track dual gauge bridge on trial basis from February 12, using one of the two lanes of the bridge.

The bridge is built on 50 pillars and 49 spans with state-of-the-art steel technology confirming 100 years of durability, it said.

Ahead of the formal opening the Silk City Express train from Rajshahi reached Dhaka crossing the Jamuna Rail Bridge with passengers onboard for the first time February 12.

Since opening of the Jamuna Multipurpose Bridge in 1998 some 38 trains used to cross daily relatively in a slow speed connecting the central part of Bangladesh including Dhaka with north, northwestern, southern and southwestern regions.

Railway officials said the government decided to construct the dedicated railway bridge in 2020 while its foundation stone was laid on November 29 of the same year.

Despite having a parallel railway track, the Jamuna Multipurpose Bridge was constructed for mainly for the road communication.

Trains were needed to cross the bridge in a low speed.

The new structure was built at a cost of Tk. 16,780.96 crore, 72.4 percent of which was provided by Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) as loan while the government provided the rest of the amount.

Japan’s OTG and IHI constructed the bridge as a joint venture project.