Problems and Prospects of a railway: A case study of Bangladesh Railway

 Problems and Prospects of a railway: A case study of Bangladesh Railway

Md. Rakibul Hasan

Abstract

This article is devised to find out the problems and prospects of railway in Bangladesh. The Bangladesh economy is burdened by major transportation constraints. These lead to lower efficiency, higher transport costs, and more significantly, “transport unreliability”. As railway is a very important mode of inland transport, its healthy growth naturally contributes to the economic development of the country. But BR, at present, has been suffering from various operating bottlenecks. One of the key findings of this study is “the lower the services, the higher the fair” which is hindering the successful operation of railway in the country. At the end, some recommendations have been developed for solving the problem of railway in Bangladesh.

     

   Key words: Services, operational problem, transport potential, reforms, infrastructure development.

Background

Railway organizations worldwide have traditionally evolved as vertically integrated transport operating enterprises under public ownership and control. To the extent that they have been sheltered from competition by government regulatory controls, they have been able to grow to dominant positions in the domestic transportation activity of many countries, both within and outside of the Asia-Pacific region.

Bangladesh Railway (BR), a total of 2854.96 route kilometers (kms), is made up of truncated portions of the erstwhile East Bengal Railway and Bengal Assam Railway (of the then British-Indian rail system), which after 1971 War of Liberation, fell in Bangladesh territory. In the process, BR inherited a number of structural and physical weaknesses as a part of its legacy, since it was not specially designed and constructed to serve Bangladesh. Due to truncation from the main system, BR is handicapped to serve the country effectively and efficaciously without proper re-orientation and development.

Bangladesh Railway, a principal transportation agency of the country, is a Government-owned and Government-managed unique organization, serving large numbers of population of the country for a long period of time. As railway is a very important mode of inland transport, its healthy growth naturally contributes to the economic development of the country. But BR, at present, has been suffering from various operating bottlenecks. Critical analysis of the efficiency of BR points up the worsening operating ratio over the last decades. It’s continuing large deficit and the high level of direct and indirect Government subsidies is probably the single biggest issue forcing Government of Bangladesh in the transport sector.

Bangladesh Railway, at present, is in poor condition and inefficiently managed. Since the partition of India in 1947, there was hardly any expansion of the railway in East Pakistan, while the road network expanded tremendously. As a result of the monopoly, the railway of this area inherited from British India started declining day by day and the railway started loosing its glorious past. Since the birth of Bangladesh in 1971, instead of constructing new railway lines, some of the branch line railway sections were declared redundant and subsequently closed and no proper attention to maintain the existing asset was being given. Thus BR was forced to face the uneven competition with other modes of transport especially with road transport.                                                                                                                               

However, over the post-Second World War era, and especially over the past two decades, rail dominance of domestic transport in Bangladesh like many other countries of the world has been challenged by the dynamic growth of road networks and of commercial motor vehicle fleets. This growth has been assisted by the often rapid dismantling of government regulatory controls, as well as by the commitment of a major and increasing share of public infrastructure development funds to the development of highway networks, without a commensurate increase in direct road user charges to offset these public outlays.

Now, more than ever before in the long history, Bangladesh Railway is facing two major threats to its long term survival: the progressive withdrawal of the government funding which has been necessary in the past to sustain railway infrastructure and services, and the relentless increase in competition from other transport modes, especially from road transport which has been assisted by the abovementioned factors.

The first of these threats, the withdrawal of government funding assistance, must and should be combated by more effective lobbying of governments by railway managements. The second threat, however, can only partly be countered by more effective lobbying.

Public support of road transport at the expense of rail transport development has usually been justified on the basis of the greater flexibility of the road transport mode. Competition from this source cannot therefore be expected to reduce in intensity for the foreseeable future, and will only be effectively counteracted if rail can offer a standard of service which at the same time satisfies the needs of customers and is superior to that on offer from its competitors. Clearly this provides rail with a substantial challenge. It will require a major change in the outlook of railway managements and in the culture of railway organization. Henceforth, the activities of railway managements will have to be directed at: identifying, understanding and responding to the needs of their existing and potential customers; identifying and understanding the cost causation and profit potential associated with individual traffics or market segments; and bringing about the organizational change which will ensure that railways will satisfy new commercial goals.

These guidelines are intended to assist the railway organization of the country to set up the systems and procedures necessary for BR to be able to function as commercially vibrant, market-led organization. However, the mere setting up of systems and procedures will not of itself ensure success. Success will only follow if the right attitudes are developed and promoted throughout the organization, starting at the very top with the Chief Executive and extending down to the lowest operative staff levels. All units of the organization must become and remain customer aware, and their activities must be harmonized and coordinated with the satisfaction of customers as the fundamental objective.

Objectives

The objectives of this article are:

·         Identifying the existing service pattern of Bangladesh Railway;

·         To reveal the operational problems faced by Bangladesh Railway;

·         To pick up the opinions of the customer;

·         To work as the path finder for the betterment of Bangladesh Railway.

Literature Review

Bangladesh Transport Sector Study, (1994) the volume of road transport increased by 88 per cent from 1985 through 1993, whereas the volume of transport by water as well as rail declined in almost equal proportion. Transport output for passenger flows in Bangladesh is increasing rapidly. In 1992/93, 1.37 billion passenger trips were undertaken in Bangladesh. The average distance traveled for a passenger trip was 48 kilometers. The road sector has increased its share to about 69 per cent of total passenger travel demand of 95 billion passenger-kms in 1999/00. On the other hand, the rail sector continues to loss its share of passenger travel since more intercity passenger travel is now conducted through the road transport system, which offers faster, more convenient and cheaper services.

Prof. Mr. Md. Nayem, (2005) “Marketing strategies for freight traffic on Indian railway: a system perspective” The main objectives of this study was to analysis the basic marketing strategies of the company. IR has lost its market share in high rated freight commodities especially cement, POL, and iron and steel. IR was missing an overall strategy for freight business which overcharged without sensitivity to competition.

Mr.Md Ikbal, (2007) “Role of public investment to promote eco-efficiency of infrastructure such as public transport (train)”In this report he stated that the role of an efficiency transport and communication system is extremely critical for the socio-economic progress of a country. As physical infrastructure is indispensible, a well- knit transport and communication network ensures a well- balanced distribution system for the means of production, efficient marketing of produced commodities, maintaining stability of price and rapid industrializations.

Problem Definition

In the earliest, it is said that the main problem of railway in Bangladesh is “the lower the services, the higher the fair”. When problem is clearly defined, then it solved the half of the problem. The others problem is delivery, arriving late, lower services, high fair and harassments. In the later it is included with solutions.

Methodology

The study is mainly a qualitative research, which involves analyzing of some important information of railway transportation and marketing issues especially of Bangladesh Railway in context of other modes of transport and finally suggesting a market integration reorientation of Bangladesh Railway. This article has been prepared on the basis of primary as well as secondary data. Primary data was gathered through face to face conversation and interview with government officials of Bangladesh. The pertinent secondary information was accumulated from relevant articles, newspapers, different position papers and action plans of the government, and relevant websites such as Bangladesh Railway, Planning Commission, Ministry of Communication, Bangladesh bureau of Statistics etc.

Issues of Bangladesh Railway Efficiency

During the last decades, the shares of the different modes have undergone major change and as experienced in other countries, road transport of the country has grown rapidly and rail‘s share has slipped down considerably. Critical analysis of the efficiency of BR points up the dramatically worsening operating ratio over the last decades. This raises the question ‘how far will the present trends continue?’ and ‘is it not possible to upgrade the overall operating performance of BR at all?’

The pessimism as to whether BR can, in fact, turn itself around is based on a number of considerations. The three critical ones appear to be:

• The ongoing decline in BR’s operating performance;

• BR’s failure to meet its action plan commitments on reform processes; and

• BR’s inability to get the political attention to resolve its problems.

Although some of the problems are well documented, others have curiously received little attention of any governments in the past.

In the post liberation period and till early eighties BR seemed to perform well, optimally realizing its full potential, of course, subject to inherited structural and physical constraints. Current poor performance is usually a reflection of poor operating performance due to inefficiencies/lower productivities of both physical and human capital caused by development resource, and institutional and policy constraints. This in turn adversely affects the financial performance of BR. However, in the process, after a certain stage, vicious circle starts when poor financial health (result in resource constraints) causes poor operational health and vice versa.

Bangladesh may also play an increasingly important role as a hub for sub-regional transport, more effectively linking Bhutan, India, and Nepal; providing access to ports; and offering transit routes for India to its eastern states. Interregional rail traffic (freight traffic) between Bangladesh and India is already increasing at a considerable rate. Further rail traffic (both passenger & freight) increases are contained by political issues as well as outdated operational procedures and cumbersome administrative arrangements at border crossings between Bangladesh and India which should be resolved as early as possible.

The main factors behind the reduced competitiveness of rail transport are institutional shortcomings and physical bottlenecks resulting from poor infrastructure and antiquated rolling stock. BR is also severely restricted by its two different gauge systems (broad and meter gauge), which is a legacy from the development of the railway network on the Indian subcontinent prior to its partition in 1947. To maintain a competitive position, railways concentrate on long-haul transport, particularly freight movements and intercity passenger traffic. Rail has also a potential role to play in mass transit for people in greater Dhaka, which is experiencing a rapid increase in motorized traffic. Experience elsewhere shows that rail transport creates less environmental damage than road traffic and can reduce pollution, congestion, accidents, and fatalities.

Inherited physical problems

Bangladesh Railway is made up of truncated portions of the then British-Indian rail system, which after 1971 War of Liberation, fell in Bangladesh territory. In the process, BR inherited a number of structural and physical weaknesses as a part of its legacy, since it was not specially designed and constructed to serve Bangladesh. Presently there are a number of missing links for direct through traffic. Due to truncation from the main system, BR is handicapped to serve the country effectively and efficaciously without proper re-orientation and development

Gauge problems

Bangladesh Railway has been suffering from various operating bottlenecks. The railway system comprises two gauges, BG & MG, which involves transshipments of traffic at the break of gauge points. Recently, Dual Gauge (DG) has been constructed in some important sections to ease the problems.

Geographical constraints

Rail transportation is very much attractive for long distance uninterrupted route network. But Bangladesh, a small county of only 1,55,598 square kilometers, is a land. of rivers. Hundreds of rivers are flowing over the territory. Before constructing JMB, the underdeveloped northern part of the country was truncated from eastern part i.e. from the capital city of the country. Recently the through traffic has been plying over JMB although JMB Railway Project has not yet been completed for BG trains. Presently there is no direct rail-route connection of the city to the Southern part of the country. Transshipments are also involved at reverine points. Besides, during rainy season direct route links are often disrupted in many points.

Managerial Problems

Bangladesh Railway management system is under experiment for a long time. Till June 2, 1982, the management and development of railway was vested with a Railway Board, comprising of a Chairman and four members. But, for administrative convenience and operational reason the Railway Board was abolished with effect from June 3, 1982 and the function of the Railway Board was vested with the Railway Division of the Ministry of Communications with the Secretary of the Division working of as the Director General of Bangladesh Railway. For the same purpose the Railway bifurcated into two zones, East & West, under the administrative control of two General Managers (GMs), who are responsible/ accountable to the Director General (DG) of Bangladesh Railway. Subsequently on August 12, 1995, Railway was separated from the Ministry and entrusted with Director General drawn from the Railway professionals. For policy guidance, a 9 (nine) member Bangladesh Railway Authority (BRA) was formed with the Minster of Communications as its Chairman. The Director General is assisted by in Additional Director Generals and second Joint Directors Generals. Frankly speaking, the DG holds little control over different activities especially related to planning & policy formulation. This creates operational as well as planning and development problems. For this reason, restructuring of BR i.e. organizational reform is very much necessary to develop efficient and active management system.

Lack Of Govt. Attention

Bangladesh Railway is a neglected sector for a long period. No Government of Bangladesh has patronized this thrust sector properly for unknown reasons. Road infrastructure has developed tremendously for huge invest during the last decades. On the other hand, negligible allocation of resources to rail sector compared to roads has led to paralyze the rail transportation system of the country year after year. No remarkable project/program has been taken to develop and strengthen the railway network; on the contrary, existing railway infrastructures cannot be properly maintained due to lack of resource. As a result, railways are always at a disadvantage compared to road transport.

Lack Of Modernization & Development

The expansion of BR has been blocked since 1947. Only 80 kms rail line has been constructed for last 50 years. On the other hand, more than 1200 kms rail lines are under risk for operation due to lack of proper maintenance and attention which is mainly for insufficient fund allocation. As a result, derailment has become common. This has adverse impact on the efficiency and reliability of railway services.

On of the major problems, presently faced by the Bangladesh Railways is a serious shortage of locomotives and route capacity. Far from having insufficient traffic on its trunk routes, the BR suffers an excess of traffic in relation to the capacity of these routes. Operating priority on these routes is given to passenger trains, and freight trains incur major delays and frequent cancellations as a result.

Since the liberation of Bangladesh, instead of constructing new rail-routes, some of the branch line railway sections were declared redundant and subsequently closed and no proper attention to maintain the existing asset was being given. The condition of locomotives (rail engines) is also miserable. The musclemen are occupying railway land and properties. Already 12,000 acres lands have been illegally dispossessed out of its 23,900 acres land. No guardian stands to say for BR, to see its future. At present, BR owns 170 trains of which 34 are Intercity, 40 are Mail & Express and rest 96 are local trains (66 in East zone and 30 in West zone). The serviceable life of the locomotives of 140 trains out of 170 has already been expired. Most of the locomotives are running over 50 years. Presently, railway owns 1400 carriages/bogies (400 for Intercity, 400 for Mail & Express and 576 for local trains) and most of them are backdated.

Although huge development budget has been allocated for Communication sector especially for roads & highways sector, little attention has been given to rail sector. Thus BR was forced to face the uneven competition with other modes of transport. So it is a challenge for BR to eliminate the inherited structural and physical weakness of Bangladesh Railway. To strengthen the efficiency of BR, proper attention will be given to this trust sector. Government has to patronize the sector properly for its healthy growth and development. In the same time, operational & maintenance as well as overhead cost will have to be minimized, management will have to be efficient, and number of employees will have to be rationale.

Lack Of Modernization & Development

The expansion of BR has been blocked since 1947. Only 80 kms rail line has been constructed for last 50 years. On the other hand, more than 1200 kms rail lines are under risk for operation due to lack of proper maintenance and attention which is mainly for insufficient fund allocation. As a result, derailment has become common. This has adverse impact on the efficiency and reliability of railway services.

On of the major problems, presently faced by the Bangladesh Railways is a serious shortage of locomotives and route capacity. Far from having insufficient traffic on its trunk routes, the BR suffers an excess of traffic in relation to the capacity of these routes. Operating priority on these routes is given to passenger trains, and freight trains incur major delays and frequent cancellations as a result.

Since the liberation of Bangladesh, instead of constructing new rail-routes, some of the branch line railway sections were declared redundant and subsequently closed and no proper attention to maintain the existing asset was being given. The condition of locomotives (rail engines) is also miserable. The musclemen are occupying railway land and properties. Already 12,000 acres lands have been illegally dispossessed out of its 23,900 acres land. No guardian stands to say for BR, to see its future. At present, BR owns 170 trains of which 34 are Intercity, 40 are Mail & Express and rest 96 are local trains (66 in East zone and 30 in West zone). The serviceable life of the locomotives of 140 trains out of 170 has already been expired. Most of the locomotives are running over 50 years. Presently, railway owns 1400 carriages/bogies (400 for Intercity, 400 for Mail & Express and 576 for local trains) and most of them are backdated.

Although huge development budget has been allocated for Communication sector especially for roads & highways sector, little attention has been given to rail sector. Thus BR was forced to face the uneven competition with other modes of transport. So it is a challenge for BR to eliminate the inherited structural and physical weakness of Bangladesh Railway. To strengthen the efficiency of BR, proper attention will be given to this trust sector. Government has to patronize the sector properly for its healthy growth and development. In the same time, operational & maintenance as well as overhead cost will have to be minimized, management will have to be efficient, and number of employees will have to be rationale.

PROSPECTS OF BANGLADESH RAILWAY

Projected Benefits

Benefits of a transport project has several components such as benefits from reduction in vehicle operating cost, facilities maintenance costs, benefits from reduction in accident as well as benefits from travel time savings etc. It is obvious that many benefits result from transportation improvement or, to put it more broadly, from improved transportation facilities. Some of these benefits are direct and readily apparent that result from a reduction in user costs; others are indirect including benefits to adjacent property and to general public and more difficult of discernment. Likewise, some benefits may be readily evaluated in terms of money; others defy evaluation in this fashion, although they are nonetheless as real and lasting as monetary returns. The most quantifiable and, to the analysis, the most significant benefits are those that result from a reduction in user costs. Such benefits result from decreased operating costs, higher operating speeds, fewer delays decreased accident losses and socio-economic development. Usually the imputed value of savings in time (especially for the developed countries) is the most dominate component of the benefits of transportation.

The tangible benefits from the reorientation of BR is expected to be obtained from the savings in operating costs, earning more from high traffic volume, efficient operation and proper utilization of railway assets. Moreover, a tremendous development will be occurred in carrying bulk commodities to a longer distance.

The main benefits that may be observed from the reorientation of Bangladesh Railway are summarized as follows:

1. Integration of Railway’s east (MG) and West (mostly BG) networks, allowing direct east-west traffic, will create new dimensions to increase BR’s efficiency.

2. Direct access between north and southeast of Bangladesh and the capital city Dhaka to the Port city Chittagong will open new doors for BR to carry both passengers and freight traffic to a longer distance.

3. It will be a closure of missing links for future Trans-Asian Railway route.

4. Enhancement of regional rail traffic will increase the revenue of BR.

5. A great development will be observed in the handling of container services from Chittagong Port to a longer distance that will promote the Export-Import business of the country.

6. Transportation projects generally result in travel time saving, which are enjoyed by passengers, crew of vehicles, vehicle operations and consigners of commodities. The proposed direct links will significantly reduce the rail distance between important sections and reduce the travel time.

7. Apart from saving in travel time, there will be significant reductions in the vehicle operating costs as well.

8. A new area will be opened for railway traffic and for reduction in travel time, more traffic will be attracted by the structural reorientation and thus BR will be able to increase its revenue.

9. BR will be able to improve its operating performance and thus will be more competitive compared to other modes of transportation.

10. New links will provide a better transport facility for bulk commodities and container services to carry faster to the Northwest region of the country over the Jamuna Multi-purpose Bridge.

11. In case of any emergency, accident or natural calamity like flood, cyclone etc., a second line of communication via the Chord line between Dhaka and Chittagong is extremely necessary to maintain uninterrupted rail communication between these two most important cities of the country.

12. The construction of the vital link is essential for the reason to increase the transportation potentials to obtain maximum profit.

Bangladesh’s Potential To Be Transport Hub

In view of its unique geographical location, Bangladesh could become the “transport hub” to serve the entire hinterland comprising Nepal, Bhutan and North-East India. Bangladesh should try to provide transport services to the sub-region as a “trade in services” and as a potentially important source of foreign exchange earning. Accordingly, future development strategies should include a regional role for the national transport system. Future actions concerning the appropriate modal mix and integration of different modes should also reflect this regional role of the transport system. To promote Bangladesh as the transport hub for the sub-region, it shall have to modernize and expand its port capacity, railway and road network, where the private sector should be encouraged to invest. BR can immediately take this opportunity by improving its existing network and extending services by opening its corridors for Indian traffic on the basis of appropriate bargaining.

JMB Railway Link

At this critical juncture when the very existence of BR was at a question mark, the concept of Jamuna Bridge Railway Link Project appeared as a blessing and the golden ray of prospect started glittering in the horizon. The opening of the railway built across the Jamuna Multipurpose Bridge (JMB) is a landmark event for the Bangladesh Railway as well as for the country. With the opening of this connection, BR’s MG networks of the east of Jamuna River and BG networks on the west have been successfully integrated by DG lines. This is an important milestone and a step towards further expanding and integrating the operation of BR with the sub-regional rail transport network. With its advantageous geographical location, BR has the potential to become the hub of commercial rail traffic movement in this region. Converting the existing MG into DG lines between Dhaka and Joydebpur will obviously enhance the potentiality of BR.

This link has removed a severe bottleneck at the Jamuna river where people and goods presently cross the river by ferry, getting off the train on one side and embarking on another train on the other side. This project has integrated the gauges of existing railway lines and built a new 99 km dual gauge line from Jamtoil to Joydebpur on the outskirts of the capital, Dhaka, so that passengers and goods cross the river by train without interruption.

The project is expected to generate a substantial volume of new freight traffic, including that of the coal and hard rock mines in the region. An important part of the project is streamlining Bangladesh Railway, the executing agency, to make it more efficient and cost-effective. Ultimately, the project will also help develop a potential sub-regional growth area that includes parts of India, Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan.

Dhaka-Chittagong Chord Rail

At present, Dhaka, with the population of 14.0 million, is the capital city of Bangladesh, and has the control of the nation’s politics and economy. While Chittagong, having 5.0 million population, is facilitated with the nation’s commercial capital and is the most advanced industrialized area and the principal sea port of the country. Thus, the south-eastern districts, between the two largest cities of the country, is densely populated and is forming the nation’s most productive area. This is why Dhaka-Chittagong corridor appears to be the most important one in terms of flow of passengers and freight traffic in the country. It is expected that in 2015, 134 million (46.05% of the total country) passenger traffic and 42 million tons freight will move in this corridor. Moreover, as more than 75% foreign trade of the country is performed by Chittagong port, this corridor has utmost importance in the context of Bangladesh transport. Thus, the Dhaka-Chittagong corridor is the most important one and so called “life-line” of the country for the economic growth of Bangladesh.

The Dhaka-Chittagong corridor is served by road, rail and water transport (inland transportation system) mainly dominated by road transport. It is evident that the present transport facilities will not be able to bear such expected heavy traffic in near future. This is why government has to build more transport facilities in this region. Besides, the present rail link between Dhaka and Chittagong is not straight one; rather it has huge rounding loop in between Dhaka and Laksam.

Chittagong-Cox’s Bazar Link

Chittagong is the commercial capital having principal sea Port and Cox’s Bazar is the main and unique tourist spot of the country. A railway direct link of about 100 kms can asily make a bridge of strong communication network between these two major cities. This link will not only a viable project for Bangladesh Railway, but also will open a new door for our tourism industry. Besides, this link will be a future step of Tarns-Asian Railway network through Myanmar.

JMB-Bogra Direct Lick

Underdeveloped Northern part of the country presently is connected with capital city Dhaka by MG trains directly over the JMB Railway Link route. BG train services will be establishments soon immediately after the completion of the on-going conversion of Dhaka-Joydebpur MG section to Dual Gauge (DG). Moreover, a new link from the eastern side of Jamuna Bridge to Tarakandi is under construction. Construction of rail link from western side of Jamuna Bridge to Bogra is under consideration in the current Three Year Rolling Investment Program (2004-2006). If this link is constructed, railway will get momentum in direct communication between the Eastern & the Northern districts of Bangladesh through Bogra using the facilities of JMB saving travel time.

Trans-Asian Railway Route

As part of the step-by-step approach to the implementation of the integrated Asian Land Transport Infrastructure Development (ALTID) project, the ESCAP secretariat undertook in 1995 a preliminary Trans-Asian Railway (TAR) route requirements study for connecting the rail networks in the SAARC region - Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, with connections to Nepal - and the Islamic Republic of Iran, to create a "TAR Southern Corridor".

The objective of the TAR project, initiated by ESCAP in the 1960s, is to assist in providing a basic rail link between Singapore (Indonesia was included at a later stage) and Istanbul, which would also provide a connection between Asia and Europe/Africa. The main direct route connecting Singapore with Istanbul is 14,000-km long. Currently, the total length of missing links is around 1950 km, comprised of 1400 km between Bangladesh and Thailand and 450 km in the Islamic Republic of Iran between Kerman and Zahedan. Consequently, the total new construction work is approximately 14% of the direct route. As Bangladesh is in a geographical important location of the TAR route network with its prospective Sea Port (Chittagong Port), BR can be appeared as an indispensable part of future socio-economic activities of this region by taking steps accordingly.

Container Services

BR has recently entered into a new era in transportation of freight traffic in containers from Chittagong to Dhaka. Exclusive container train was introduced on 5^th August 1991. Since then, volume of container traffic gained momentum. During the year 2000-03, a total of 61,026 nos. of containers (only 23% of total containers handled at the port) were handled at Chittagong Port and Dhaka ICD, which carried 447,688 tones of different commodities and contributed a total of Tk. 32,00,57,726 to the Railway revenue (25% of total freight earnings). In 2003-04 BR handled 70,247 containers, which carried 541,963 tons of different commodities and contributed a total of Tk. 374,441,891 to the railway revenue. It covers 27.87% of total freight earning of that year and it is 17% higher than that of the previous year. Presently BR is carrying only about 20-23% of total containers handled at Chittagong Port, which are destined for Dhaka, the rest are currently de-stuffed and carried by road. BR can increase its share by improving its capacity & service quality and thus it has a bright opportunity to increase its revenue by handling more containers covering west zone over JMB through DG Link route.

Railway Recovery Program

Bangladesh railway has embarked upon a comprehensive Railway Recovery Program (RRP) in order to improve its financial performance through increased efficiency and cost reduction. The key elements of RRP are:

1. Improving labor productivity primarily by reducing surplus employees (reduction of workforce from 58,000 to 35,000 through voluntary separation and natural attrition);

2. Reducing losses on different services by closing a number of money losing branch lines, stations, sheds, depots etc. and withdrawal of some non-profitable passenger train services;  Replacing open ended subsidy with compensation under Public Service Obligation (PSO) system by the government for running services on social consideration, in place of open subsidy;

3. Improving operational efficiency through optimizing the use of assets

4. Making the Railway more responsive to market needs through organizational reform incorporating structural changes and sound business practices

5. Exploiting commercially surplus land and other capacities of Railway

The principle of the reform process in BR is to transform BR into a more commercial organization. This would result in a sustainable and financially viable carrier and ensure less government interference in respect of organizational and commercial decisions of BR. This would mean progressive independence of BR from the government. In the process of reform efforts, major objectives of Railway development plans for different plan period are given below:

• First Five Year Plan (1973-78): Rehabilitation and reconstruction of damaged railway system

• First Two Year Plan (1978-80): Completion of the work of rehabilitation and reconstruction

• Second Five Year Plan (1980-85): Achievement of a reasonable level of efficiency in assets utilization. The bulk of the investment was for replacement, renewal and rehabilitation of track, rolling stock and signaling equipment

• Third Five Year Plan (1985-90): Similar to Second Five Year Plan, with greater emphasis on modernization of signaling and telecommunication system, fabrication of carriages and training of officers and staffs

• Fourth Five Year Plan (1990-95): Improvement of operational efficiency, reduction of financial loss, development of repair and maintenance facilities, rehabilitation of track and bridges on a selective basis and introduction of pre-stressed concrete sleepers on core lines

• Second Two Year Plan (1995-97): Completion of spilled over projects of Fourth Five Year Plan period

• Fifth Five Year Plan (1997-2002): Establishment of a direct railway link between east and west Zone through Cross Jamuna rail connection, feasibility study on Dohazari-Cox’s Bazar rail line, improvement of line capacity and opening up avenues for private sector participation in BR activities

• Three year Rolling Investment program (2004-2006): Establishments of direct railway connection between the capital city Dhaka and the west Zone by converting Dhaka-Joydebpur MG section to Dual Gauge (DG). Rehabilitation of branch lines, construction of direct rail link from western side of Jamuna Bridge to Bogra and eastern side of Jamuna Bridge to Tarakandi. Modernization of signaling & interlocking systems of different stations. Procurement of new carriages and locomotive for improvement of passenger services.

Plan Period	Allocation in Million Taka
	Road	Railway	IWT	Airways	Transport Sector
First Five-Year Plan (1973-78)	1,496.10	1261.30	1,862.20	656.50	5276.10
First Two-Year Plan (1978-80)	1,687.90	1230.80	1,098.60	482.70	4500.00
Second Five-Year Plan (1980-85)	4,090.20	4133.90	3,168.70	1,471.80	12864.60
Third Five Year Plan (1985-90)	11,853.00	8360.00	5,710.00	2,100.00	30023.00
Fourth Five-Year Plan (1990-95)	34,650.00	8350.00	7,930.00	2,800.00	63730.00
Second Two-Year Plan (1995-97)	18,467.10	3986.70	1,319.00	1,027.00	45479.00
Fifth Five-Year Plan (1997-2002)	-	24000.00	-	-	118000.00
Three-Year Rolling Investment program (2004-2006)	-	75573.10	-	-	-

Due to some constraints, the above-mentioned objectives have not yet been attained fully within the timeframes. If the above rehabilitation program is successfully completed, BR will be more efficient and dynamic in operation.

Conclusion and Recommendation

There is a lot of scope to increase the efficiency of Bangladesh Railway. Most important way is to strengthen BR’s operational capacity and efficiency through reducing its inherited physical & structural weakness by rehabilitation as well as reorientation and all the way through institutional and organizational reform processes and developing & implementing effective integrated multimodal transport policy emphasizing the importance of railway transportation in respect to our socio-economic context. The adoption of market-led philosophy can make BR more competitive and market-oriented commercial viable organization. This reorientation and reform processes may be appeared as blessing to BR as well as to country’s transport sector for the sustainable development of the country. Operational efficiency of BR would be improved through optimizing the use of assets. Thus railway would be more responsive to market needs through organizational reform incorporating structural changes and sound business practices.

in place for enforcing and overseeing objectives of the transport sector. Legislation must be properly implemented and enforced for proper functioning of transport internal market. An independent Commission for Integrated Transport should be established to advise Government and to monitor progress on the implementation of policy. Present deficiencies of sectoral bias, improper modal mix, unsustainable development, and un-integrated development should be removed through strategic planning.

In this connection, we would strongly recommend the followings:

·         Bangladesh Railway should commercialize some of its service operations and introduce a new market-based pricing system. Its routes and services need to be integrated with other surface modes to make the railway more attractive to the users. These issues have to be addressed at a higher level of the Government in order to utilize the full potential of rail system. Commercialization of BR should be given priority over the institutional issues. BR management should be given full commercial freedom including authorities for hiring and firing, and at the same time made answerable for agreed performance targets. In order to be competitive, with road sector, officials must change their mind-set and operate like a private sector. The officials need to be more dynamic to solve problems, and think of providing door to door services in close cooperation with the truck operators.

·         BR is also suffering from lack of investment for proper maintenance of tracks. The span of service life of maximum railway locomotives, carriages, vehicles, tracks, bridges, workshops etc. have already been expired. Sufficient funds have not been allocated for their maintenance and smooth operation for a long time. Thus BR was forced to face the uneven competition with other modes of transport. Recently, derailment has become very common. This has adverse impact on efficiency and reliability of services. Improved services should be ensured by aggressive development and rehabilitation of existing assets. Government has to patronize BR to reduce its operating bottlenecks and help to build its glorious image. As a huge financial involvement is required to increase the overall efficiency of BR, donor agencies should be invited to invest.

·         The on-going reforms and reorganization of BR should be completed for transforming the organization into a public but commercial entity. Its infrastructure and operations need to be segregated and both operated on commercial principles. Whatever reform has been achieved so far should be consolidated by bringing the changes under legal coverage.

The reform and reorganization issue of BR with necessary commercial freedom should be implemented soon. In addition to organizational issues, introduction of business units for different core and non-core activities starting with pilot projects, with emphasis on Public Private Partnership (PPP) should be enhanced. The institutional changes will be brought about gradually as the business units grow. A modern costing system will be introduced to help taking judicious commercial decisions.

·         Bangladesh Railway should provide the backbone of inter-city, intracity passenger transit and commuter services. Further areas of railway operations should be opened up to efficient private sector involvement.

·         Towards rationalization of gauges in Bangladesh, the on-going program of dualization from Parbatipur to Dhaka, should be extended up to Chittagong, to facilitate regional integration, and provide uninterrupted broad gauge rail services from neighboring countries, to sea ports in Bangladesh. In addition, there is a need to standardize the coupling and braking system, as these restrict operating speeds for Indian trains hauling Bangladeshi wagons.

In case regional traffic opens up quickly, BR should plan to buy compatible BG wagons for the purpose, instead of changing all its assets to Indian standard.

·         To increase efficiency in handling container traffic, Bangladesh Railway may like to establish a separate self-sustaining organization such as CONCOR (Container Corporation of Indian Railways) under the Indian Railways. The handling of containers by BR could have improved a great deal, if a separate self-sustaining organization (like “CONCOR”) could be established, to handle these containers.

·         Multimodal studies are to be undertaken involving the objectives and issues of sustainable development. Problems on different modes of transport including access to ports and airports are to be identified and an integrated transport policy for the country based on multimodalism approach has to be developed and implemented.

·         Action plan concerning legal, regulatory and institutional measures to achieve the policy objectives of sustainable transport are to be enforced by the government through legislative means.

·         Finally, Railway’s role as the dominant mode of transport has to be restored by targeted action plans and in this regard further detail studies are required.

Reference

Bangladesh Transport Sector Study, (1994 ) the volume of road transport ,page22-30

Bangladesh Railway (2004), “Information Book”, Railbhaban, Dhaka

Bangladesh Railway (2003), “Information Book”, Railbhaban, Dhaka

Bangladesh Bureau Statistics (2001), “Statistical Year Book”, Dhaka

Gómez-Ibáñez, J.A., Meyer, J.R., (1993). “Going Private: The International Experience with Transport Privatization.” Washington, D.C.: The Brookings Institution, November.

Mr.Md Ikbal, (2007) “Role of public investment to promote eco-efficiency of infrastructure such as public transport (train)”

Prof. Mr. Md. Nayem,(2005) “Marketing strategies for freight traffic on indian railway: a system perspective”, service marketing, vol 5, page 22-29

http://www.unescap.org

http://www.prothom-alo.com/

http://bdrailway.org/