Bangladesh Railway today started operating passengers train through the newly built Jamuna Railway Bridge on trial basis, a month before its formal inauguration.

The longest dedicated railway bridge of the country will be inaugurated formally on March 18, Al Fattah Md Masudur Rahman, additional director general (infrastructure) of BR, told The Daily Star today.

Masudur, also project director of bridge, said they have started using one of the two lines of bridge for the trial operation from today.

Earlier, they gave several trial runs without passengers.

He said the president of JICA, the financer of the over Tk 17,000 crore project, will take part in the bridge inauguration programme.

The 4.8km double line dual gauge bridge over Jamuna River will boost rail connectivity between Dhaka and northwestern regions.