By Maloy Kumar Dutta, Meah Mohammad Arif & Abu Taher

COX' BAZAR, Nov 10, 2023 (BSS) - Tourist town Cox's Bazar, having the world's longest sandy beach, is going to enter a new era of railway connectivity as Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will formally open tomorrow the long-cherished 102-km Chattogram-Dohazari-Cox's Bazar dual-gauge single railway line and iconic oyster-shaped Cox's Bazar station here with a marine atmosphere at first sight.

"All preparations have been completed for the opening of the fast-track mega railway project, implemented at a cost of Taka 18034.47 crore and financed by Asian Development Bank and Bangladesh government, as trial runs were done successfully on Tuesday," Dohazari-Cox's Bazar Railway Project director Md Suboktagin told BSS.

Following the inauguration, commercial operations on the new railway line, which is a part of Trans-Asian Railway (TAR) network and will improve access to Myanmar and beyond, will commence in December.

As per the premier's programme schedule, she will formally inaugurate the train service at the newly built Cox's Bazar railway station at 11am. She will begin journey by train on the new railway line from Cox's Bazar station for Ramu station at 12pm. Later, she will go to Ramu cantonment by road at 12.20pm. From there, the premier will go towards Matarbari Deep Sea Port Channel at Maheshkhali upazila of Cox's Bazar to join the inaugural ceremony of the channel at 2.30pm.

Sheikh Hasina, also Awami League (AL) president, will join a public meeting at Matarbari Thermal Power Plant Project's township ground at 3.15pm under the arrangement of AL's Maheshkhali Upazila unit.

Ashek Ullah Rafiq, Cox's Bazar-2 constituency lawmaker, said the people of Cox's Bazar district are eagerly waiting to welcome Bangabandhu's daughter Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina as the meeting is expected to turn into a human sea.

Railways Minister Nurul Islam Sujan visited the Cox's Bazar railway construction project and the iconic station on Thursday and today.

Talking to BSS, he said the people from all over the country are waiting with great expectations for the opening of the railway connectivity in tourist city Cox's Bazar as this newly built rail link will bring dramatic changes in the tourism industry as well as industrialization connecting the national and sub-regional railway networks for the first time.

"Cox's Bazar iconic railway station having its aesthetic architectural beauty is a matter of pride for all of us. There is no such unique structure anywhere else," he said.

The oyster-shaped station has a residential hotel as well as canteen, lockers, car parking and so on, he said.

Tourists can leave their luggage in the station lockers and spend the day at the beach or go for sightseeing as 46,000 people can move through this station per day, he added.

Abdul Jaber Milon, construction manager of the Dohazari-Cox's Bazar Railway Project, said Cox's Bazar station has been built at a cost of Taka 215 crore on 29 acres of land in Hazipara area under Jhelongja union, 3 kilometers east of the beach as well as the tourist city.

In the construction of this iconic station, facilities of various modern stations of the world including China, Belgium, England and Italy have been taken into consideration, he added.

A total of 250 engineers and over six hundred people worked on the entire project, including 110 foreigners, he said.

After four years of hard work, the uniquely beautiful railway station building is visible now, said Milon.

He said this station will be Asia's first hundred percent tourist-friendly central air-conditioned six-storey station with all kinds of facilities, including traffic services for tourists.

The ground floor of the station has various facilities, including ticket counter, reception center and lockers while shopping mall and restaurants on the second floor. There will be a star quality hotel on third floor while there are mosques, child care centers and escalators, ATM booths, post office and tourist information booth.

The timing of train operation on commercial basis on Chittagong-Cox's Bazar route has not been finalized yet. Fares on the new route have already been finalized.

Bangladesh Railway's East Zone general manager Md Nazmul Islam said it will a minimum of Taka 55 taka and a maximum of Taka 696 taka to travel from Chittagong to the tourist town of Cox's Bazar by train. Taka 205 is for Shovon Chair.

The train fare on the route will be comparatively much lower than the bus fare as in many cases it will be less than half that of buses, he said.

He said fare on the Chittagong-Cox's Bazar railway line was finalized on November 6 from the marketing branch of the railway.

However, it has not been finalized yet how many trains will run on this route and at what time as it will be fixed after receiving the instructions of the Bangladesh Railway's head office.

He said there is already a 48km railway line from Chittagong station to Dohazari built in British period while the construction of the 102km new railway line from Dohazari to Cox's Bazar began in 2018, he added.

Both meter-gauge and broad-gauge trains can run on this dual-gauge single railway line having 9 stations.

The 102km railway includes 88 km from Dohazari to Ramu, 14 km from Ramu to Cox's Bazar. The nine stations are Dohazari, Satkania, Lohagara, Harbang, Chakaria, Dulahazara, Islamabad (Eidgaon), Ramu, Cox's Bazar Sadar.

It will pass through eight upazilas including the Chandanaish, Satkania and Lohagara in Chattogram district and the Chakaria, Cox's Bazar Sadar, Ramu and Ukhia upazilas in Cox's Bazar district.

The line will begin at Dohazari village and continue southwards to Cox's Bazar. The first 29km segment will run across flat, open land in Chattogram district, while the next 33km will travel through agricultural land and forests in the Chakaria Upazila of Cox's Bazar District.

During the project's second phase, the rail line will be extended to the Myanmar border as well as the deep-sea port on Matarbari Island. The extended part will have two stations - Ukhia and Ghumdhum.
 
It will have 9 computer based interlock signal systems, 9 digital telecommunication systems.

Bridges have been constructed over Sangu, Matamuhuri and Bakkhali rivers. Apart from this, there are 43 small bridges, 201 culverts, a flyover in Keuchia area of Satkania, 144 level crossings and two highway crossings in Ramu and Cox's Bazar areas.