Tuhin Shubhra Adhikary

The long drawn-out manpower shortage in Bangladesh Railway is likely to be eased as the state-owned rail transport agency will soon resume hiring staff after a pause of nearly three years.

The last span of the Padma Bridge is likely to be installed on pillars 12 and 13 today linking both sides of the mighty Padma river as the country’s people get closer to having their long-cherished dream come true.

Installing the facilities now to run electric trains between Dhaka and Jashore via the Padma bridge might cost the government up to an additional Tk 4,454 crore, a study said.

The Bangladesh Railway (BR) has planned to introduce an automatic train protection system (ATPS) to avoid any head-on collisions and maloperation, and to ensure safe train operations, officials said.

In a rare move, Road Transport and Bridges Ministry yesterday appointed a project director within five days of the approval of the Jhenaidah-Jashore highway expansion project.

With 1,100 new buses and trucks in its fleet and strict monitoring enforced, Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation (BRTC) made profit in the last fiscal year, after losses for three consecutive years, officials say.

Bangladesh Railway and the metro rail authorities have agreed to a new plan which requires shifting of Kamalapur Station Plaza to a nearby location to make space for extending the MRT-6 line up to Kamalapur from Motijheel.

Despite being illegal and risky, they are used nationwide, thanks to the backing of influentials who find them an easy way to make a quick buck.

An SSC examinee of the capital’s Wari High School Abir Ahmed was killed in front of his school on January 27 this year, the day he received farewell from the institution.

The government is developing a masterplan to turn all major highways into expressways under an umbrella network to enhance mobility, reliability and safety of traffic, and reduce transportation costs for sustained economic growth.

A panel formed by the Japanese government has given Bangladesh an alternative plan for the MRT-6 extension to Kamalapur, saying the existing PMO-approved design would seriously hamper the prospect of the country’s premier railway station becoming a true transport hub.

The authorities concerned have started planning the implementation of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s directive to bring public transport workers under a dope testing system.

A high-powered taskforce, formed to reduce road crashes and bring discipline in road transport sector, is going to hold its second meeting next week, a year after its first meeting.

The migrant workers’ crisis, which emerged after the outbreak of novel coronavirus, further deepened with the government response marred by inappropriate decisions coupled with delayed and inadequate actions.

For the first time in the country, the government is going to hire a private company to check motor vehicles’ fitness with machines.

The government has planned to expand the Dhaka-Sylhet highway into four-lane without keeping adequate overpasses and underpasses, which may reduce the service and productivity of the road.

China Railway Group Limited, also known as CREC, the contractor of the Padma Bridge Rail Link Project (PBRLP), will have to pay for damaging the newly-built Dhaka-Mawa-Bhanga expressway by operating overloaded trucks with construction materials.

The Road Transport Act-2018 stipulates up to six months’ imprisonment or a fine of Tk 25,000 or both for driving a vehicle without an updated fitness certificate. The law also specifies a fine of Tk 10,000 for not having a tax token.

To get a driving licence from the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority, an aspiring driver is supposed to pass three tests -- written, practical and viva.

Road transport and traffic management, over a period of time, has gone through major changes, but road safety remains one of the most serious social concerns in Bangladesh and emerges as a “man-made epidemic”.