Editorial
The ailing state of Bangladesh Railway
It must tap its full potential through modernisation
AS a front page report in yesterday's issue of this newspaper so graphically shows, Bangladesh Railway is in need of what one might call intensive care if it is to be saved from impending collapse and go on to improve the quality of services for commuters. Essentially, it must be restored to a fully operational state before it can be developed and modernised further.
Despite its decrepit state, BR plays an indispensable role in transport and travel. This can be gauged from the fact that it remains the most import means by which people travel all across Bangladesh. When BR is compared with other modes of transport, such as river vessels and buses, the number of passengers it carries is huge, to a point where it carried no fewer than 53.8 million people last year.
The conditions in which these passengers travel on BR are appalling to say the least. Engines dating back to pre-liberation days (and they are altogether eighty in all) are still being used. That by itself is a sign of the dilapidation into which BR has fallen. The figures say it all. Only 70 per cent of the 1,400 coaches of the railway can be made use of. Clearly, these coaches along with the engines are today in a state which beggars description. When no less than the director general of Bangladesh Railway points to the regular breakdown of most of the existing locomotives, any remaining doubt about the operational ability or otherwise of BR is vindicated.
The sheer cost of maintaining the locomotives and engines, through frequent repairs, again tells upon the already strapped finances of the railway. It is proof, if proof were needed, of how an absence of modernization in so crucial a mode of transport as the railway can be such a drag on the system. For any transport system to provide adequate and satisfactory services to people, therefore, it is important that it be constantly updated through an infusion of new technology.
There is thus a compelling need for Bangladesh Railway to be thoroughly overhauled in the interest of commuters as well as in its own interest. Let us not forget that BR is relatively less accident-prone. And, to be sure, it is comparatively cheap. That is the principal argument for bringing it level with accepted standards. Beyond that, it is time for the authorities to see the railway, road and river transport systems in a multi-modal perspective in which the different modes will be so developed as to play roles that are mutually complementary and reinforcing.
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