Trans Asian Rail project may be placed in ECNEC today

The government is likely to approve  an ambitious ‘Dohajari to Ramu via Cox’s Bazar, Ramu to Gundum of Myanmar Metre Gauge Rail Line’ project aimed at linking the  Trans-Asian Railway (TAR) connecting  the country’s rail system to a 14,000 -km network stretching from Europe to East and South-East Asia, reports The Independent.
The 128 kilometres long Metre Gauge Rail Line projects under the  Road and Railway Division of  the  Communication Ministry, involving Tk 1852 crore with assistance of TK TK 1182 core to be placed for approval in the Executive Committee of National Economic Council (ECNEC) meeting at planning commission today, officials said.
However, Secretary of the communication ministry Mohammad Mozzamel Huq Khan said earlier the proposal was sent to the parliament for ratification. But it was returned for vetting by ECNEC first.
 Under the project nine new stations will be set up. They  are Satkania, Lohagora, Chokoria, Dulahazara, Eidgah, Ramu, Cox’s Bazar, Ukhia and Gundum of Myanmar. Among these stations Dohajari will be a full fledged station. Computerised signal and inter-calling system will be set up in the  nine new stations on this route, the sources said.  
A total of 47 bridges, including four big bridges, 148 concrete box culverts and 52 concrete pipe culverts will be constructed under the project.      
Earlier, the government had conducted a feasibility study from 1999 to 2001, which said Bangladesh will be benefited if it goes for the TAR.
Starting from Turkey, the TAR would link Bangladesh with six countries of East Asia including Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Malaysia and Singapore, and also with Europe through Turkey.
Bangladesh signed the Inter-governmental Agreement on the TAR Network on November 9, 2007. The cCountry now needs to build 128 km rail track from Dohajari of Chittagong to Teknaf of Cox’s Bazar. Bangladesh Railway has to acquire 1,200 acres of land to lay the rolling stock. At present, there is rail link up from Chittagong to Dohajari.
Gundum point will be a railway junction from where a track will extend to Cox’s Bazar town to facilitate tourist movement and another towards Chittagong, the sources said.
The TAR would connect Bangladesh at three points from the Indian state of West Bengal, and have a single exit point at Gundum. The track passes through industrial centres in the north and south-west of the country, and through Joydevpur and to Chittagong.
The first entry point of the TAR is at Gede of west Bengal and it runs through Darshana, Ishwardi, Jamuna Bridge, Joydevepur, Akhaura, Chittagong, Dohajari, Cox’s Bazar, Ramu and Gundum.
The second entry point of the track is at Singabad, India, and then it passes through Rajshahi, Ishwardi, Jamuna Bridge, Joydevpur, Akhaura, Chittagong and Dohajari, and Gundum.
Much of the railway network already exists but some significant gaps in it remain.  In 1890 Myanmar Railway conducted a feasibility study from Chittagong to Ramu and Cox’s Bazar to Myanmar.
On the  basis of this study  the  Myanmar Railway conducted a complete survey in 1908-09 from Chittagong to Akyab of Myanmar. In order to establish rail communication from Dohajari to Akyab of Myanmar a survey also conducted in 1917 to 1919.
On the  basis of this study metre gauge rail line was established from Chittagong to Dohajari. But the rail line was not extended due to the second World War. In 1958 the then East Bengal Railway conducted a survey to extend rail line from Chittagong to Cox’s Bazar.
A traffic feasibility study on the rail line of Chittagong -Cox’s Bazar was conducted by the  Japan Railway Technical Survey (JRTS) in 1971 which  collected necessary data in 1976 t0 1977.
Earlier the Trans-Asian Railway Network Agreement was signed by 18 Asian nations including China, Indonesia, Iran, Nepal, Korea, Sri Lanka and Thailand at a United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and Pacific (UNESCAP) ministerial conference on transport held in South Korea on November 6-11, 2006.
The TAR project was initiated in the 1960s with the objective of providing a continuous 14,000 km rail link between Singapore and Istanbul, Turkey, with possible further connection to Europe and Africa. By 2001, four corridors provided for in the plan were closely examined. Of the four corridors, southern corridor will start from Europe to Southeast Asia, connecting Turkey, Iran, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Myanmar, and Thailand, with links to China’s Yunnan Province and to Singapore via Malaysia.
 
Courtesy of The Independent