The government has announced plans to build a long-awaited rail chord line linking Dhaka with Cumilla via Narayanganj, a project expected to reduce the Dhaka-Chattogram rail distance by 80-90 kilometres and cut passenger travel time to around three to three-and-a-half hours.
Currently, trains on the country's busiest rail corridor travel about 320 kilometres via Akhaura, Bhairab and Tongi, although the road distance is only 248 kilometres.
Freight trains are also expected to save four to five hours per trip.
Finance Minister Ameer Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury announced the project during his budget speech, saying a feasibility study has been completed. Of the proposed alignments, the Shyampur-Cumilla route has been selected as the preferred option.
The proposed line will also connect freight trains from Chattogram Port, the Bay Terminal and the Matarbari Deep Sea Port directly with the planned Dhirashram Inland Container Depot (ICD), which the government says will strengthen the country's logistics network.
Faster trains, better asset utilisation
Railway officials say the new line will bypass the 34 level crossings between Tongi and Kamalapur, where trains currently slow to 40-45 km/h despite a design speed of 80 km/h.
Project Director Md Abidur Rahman told The Business Standard that detailed design work is underway and the DPP is expected to be completed by June next year.
Officials estimate passenger travel time on the Dhaka-Chattogram route will fall from the current five to six hours to around three to three-and-a-half hours. Freight trains, which now take 12-15 hours, could complete the journey four to five hours faster.
The reduced travel time would also allow Bangladesh Railway to operate more services with its existing locomotives and rolling stock.
A proposal five decades in the making
The proposed Dhaka-Cumilla chord line has been under discussion since the 1970s, but the British-era railway alignment through Cumilla, Brahmanbaria, Bhairab, Narsingdi and Tongi has remained unchanged despite shorter road links.
The project is now at the feasibility verification and detailed design stage, with Bangladesh Railway aiming to finalise the Development Project Proposal (DPP) by June next year.
The Shyampur-Lalmai alignment has been selected from four alternatives studied since 2020, although the budget did not specify the project's cost, funding or implementation timeline.
Freight capacity under pressure
The proposed chord line comes as Bangladesh Railway struggles to meet growing freight demand amid an acute shortage of locomotives and rolling stock.
Although the network requires 12-15 freight trains daily, only two to three currently operate. Freight revenue fell to Tk111.27 crore in the first nine months of the current fiscal year from Tk122.73 crore a year earlier.
Business leaders say the project is increasingly important as cargo volumes are expected to rise with the commissioning of the Bay Terminal and Matarbari Deep Sea Port.
Khairul Alam Sujan, former vice-president of the Bangladesh Freight Forwarders Association, said shorter rail journeys would attract more passengers, reduce pressure on highways and allow the existing line to carry more freight directly to the under-construction Dhirashram ICD in Gazipur.
Bangladesh Railway Joint Director (Operations) Md Shahidul Islam said the time savings would enable the same locomotives and rakes to operate twice as many services.
transport / Dhaka-Chattogram / railway route
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