Md. Dil, Sirajganj
A trial passenger train is running on the much-awaited Jamuna Rail Bridge today. Sayedabad Railway Station Master Moniruzzaman confirmed this at 11 am on Wednesday (February 12). Jamuna Rail Bridge Project Director Al Fattah Md. Masudur Rahman said that the Silk City Express passenger train crossed the Jamuna Rail Bridge at 10:45 am today, Wednesday. The remaining trains will run as per the schedule in phases.
Additionally, the Jamuna Rail Bridge will be officially inaugurated tomorrow (February 18). Senior administration officials, including the Communications Advisor, will be present at the event.
According to project sources, although the 4.8-kilometer-long Jamuna Rail Bridge has two tracks, trains will initially operate in both directions on one track. Tomorrow (February 13), trains leaving Dhaka will operate on the right-hand track, i.e. the track on the north side of the bridge.
After the Bangabandhu Bridge was opened over the Jamuna River in 1998, rail connectivity was established with Dhaka in the northwest. However, cracks appeared on the bridge in 2008. After that, the authorities reduced the speed of trains running over the bridge. On March 3, 2020, the government took the initiative to build a separate rail bridge over the Jamuna River. The government approved the plan to build a 4.80-kilometer-long dual-gauge double-track rail bridge.
The foundation stone for the construction of the railway bridge was laid on November 29, 2020. Piling work for the construction of the railway bridge pillars began in March 2021. The construction cost of the project was initially set at 9,734.7 million taka, but it was later increased to 16,780.96 million taka. Of this, 27.60 percent financing came from domestic sources and 72.40 percent was provided by a loan from the Japan International Cooperation Agency-JICA. The construction work of this largest railway bridge in the country is being implemented by Japanese companies OTG and IHI.
At the beginning of the project, the bridge was named Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Railway Bridge. After the interim government took charge, the bridge was renamed Jamuna Rail Bridge in December last year.
Md. Dil
Sirajganj
