Vehicular traffic on the Padma Bridge started in June last year. Now the experimental train movement has started. Yesterday at 1:21 PM, the test train departed from Bhanga in Faridpur, crossed the Padma Bridge and reached Mawa station at 3:18 PM. The train takes 16 minutes to cross Padma Bridge. This link of Padma bridge has been made suitable for train movement at a speed of 120 km per hour. The project engineers said that the average speed of the train which was run on a trial basis yesterday was 20 km per hour.
The test train rack, consisting of seven Chinese-made coaches, uses a new engine from General Motors of the United States. Another engine was attached to the rear, which later took the train to the breaking point. Railways Minister Nurul Islam Sujan, Jatiya Sangsad Chief Whip Noor-e-Alam Chowdhury, Water Resources Deputy Minister Enamul Haque Shamim, Parliamentarians Mojibur Rahman, Iqbal Hossain, Nahim Razzak, Sagupta Yasmin and senior officials of Railways Ministry and Bangladesh Railways traveled as passengers in the train. The railway minister said, ‘This project is valid till June 2024. Trains will run till Jessore within that period. We have no plans to increase the project cost as of now. Can’t tell until it’s over. The time set for completion of this project by next June, it can be said then whether anything more will be added to its cost.
When asked how the fare will be on the railway, he said, “Our railway runs on different routes. The rent will be determined in accordance with that. Bangladesh Railway is constructing a 169 km broad gauge railway from Dhaka to Jessore under the Padma Setu Rail Link Project. 39,246 crores are being spent to build the railway so far. The project, which started on January 1, 2016, will run until June 2024.
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