Bangladesh Railway is going to a get big boost as Bangabandhu Railway Bridge over the Jamuna is likely to be opened in December this year.

The 4.8km long bridge, which would be the largest dedicated rail bridge of the country, is now fully visible as installation of all 49 spans were completed last month.

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Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Railway Bridge: The next milestone in connectivity

"Eighty-four percent work of the Tk 16,780.95 crore project has been done, and we hope to open the bridge in late December this year," Project Director Al Fattah Md Masudur told The Daily Star on Thursday.

He said they were now setting up tracks on the bridge and 50 percent of the work was done. Besides, installing signalling system and constructing platforms and buildings at two stations on the east and west sides of Bangabandhu bridge were in progress.

Besides, a gas pipeline on the bridge is being installed. "We hope all these works will be finished by early December," he added.

The dual-gauge double-track bridge is being built some 300 metres upstream of the Bangabandhu bridge, which has a single rail line.

Japan is funding 72 percent of the cost as soft loans. Two Japanese joint-venture firms are carrying out the main work of the project taken in 2016.

The railway bridge would improve the capacity of BR in operating more trains between the capital and western part of the country. It would also help reduce train delays, which are now common, said officials.

The delays in schedule of trains that travel between the capital, north-western and southwester regions mainly occur due to restrictions on load and speed on the Bangabandhu bridge.

With the highest permitted speed of 20kmph, it takes about half an hour for a train to travel from the station on the east side of the bridge to the west, said officials.

This problem cannot be solved until the rail bridge and the dual-gauge double lines between Joydebpur and Ishwardi are constructed, said officials.

There is a single line from Joydebpur to Ishwardi. The railway operates around 40 trains on this stretch that connects Dhaka with the western region via the Bangabandhu bridge a day.

Officials said a maximum of 22 trains could travel smoothly on this route a day, but operation of more trains than the capacity is causing the delays. The new rial bridge will have the capacity to operate 88 trains daily.

Considering all these factors, BR has taken two projects -- one for constructing the rail bridge and another for constructing a dual-gauge double line from Joydebpur to Ishwardi, they added.

In December 2016, the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council passed the bridge project at a cost of Tk 9,734 crore and the project was scheduled to be completed within December 2023.

But the physical work of the project started in August 2020 and the cost rose to Tk 16,918.59 crore and the deadline was extended to December 2025 with a year defect liability period.

However, the physical work of the Joydebpur-Ishwardi double project is yet to start due to fund-related problems. China, which was supposed to finance the project, pulled out midway. Now, Japan is going to fund it.

It may take two more years to start the physical work, said officials.