File Photo

DHAKA, Jan 22, 2025 (BSS) – The first ever double line dual gauge railway bridge over the river Jamuna will be opened third week of February, official familiar with the project said.

“The inaugural ceremony for operation of trains over the Jamuna railway bridge will be held on February third week,” Additional Director General of Bangladesh Railway Al Fattah Md Masudur Rahman told BSS here today.

He said Bangladesh Railway will organize “Bridge Completion Ceremony” at 11am on March 18 at the project site.

President of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) Dr Tanaka Akihiko is expected to remain present at the ceremony. The JICA President is set to arrive in Dhaka on March 16.

“Installation of computer based interlocking signaling work is going on for smooth movement of trains on the bridge,” the additional director general said.

He said authority of the project completed construction of the main bridge while overall progress of the bridge reached to 98 percent.

Rahman said that all sort of trial with measuring of parameters of the bridge and static load measurement were finished successfully.

According to project detail, the total length of the bridge is 4.8 kilometres, which is the largest dedicated rail bridge of the country, was constructed with the involvement of Taka 16,780 crore.

It said necessary preparations were underway to begin for commercial operation in February, as test run and other measurement were completed.

According to the project detail, the cost of the project has been estimated at Taka 16,780.95 crore, of which Taka 13,000 crore has been allocated for construction work and over Taka 3,000 crore is fixed for other cost. 

It said the construction work was done with the financial support of the JICA. JICA has provided around Taka 12,000 crore, while the rest of money came from the Government of Bangladesh (GOB) fund.  

Two Japanese joint-venture farms have been carrying out the main work of the project initiated in 2016, it said.

The dual-gauge double-track bridge, having gas pipeline facility, is being built some 300 metres upstream of the Bangabandhu Bridge, having a single rail line.

In December 2016, the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) passed the bridge project at a cost of Taka 9,734 crore with the deadline of completing the project by December 2023.

But the physical work of the project started in August 2020 and the foundation work of the bridge was begun in March 2021. 

The rail bridge would also have a positive impact on the country’s Gross Domestic product (GDP) growth.

The railway bridge would improve the capacity of Bangladesh Railway (BR) in operating more trains between the capital and western part of the country. It would also help reduce train delays.

The new rail bridge will have the capacity to operate 88 trains daily, while a maximum of 22 trains could travel smoothly on single line dual gauge Bangabandhu Bridge a day.