BR vulnerable to engine shortage

Bangladesh Railways has been facing an engine crisis for a long time. Despite investing more than 1.5 lakh crore taka in the last decade and a half, the most important engine has not been imported. Although train operations have practically come to a standstill due to the lack of engines, no progress has been made in overcoming the crisis due to the indifference of the mechanical or mechanical engineering department.

According to railway sources, although the daily demand for engines in the eastern and western regions is about 250, due to the use of old engines for a long time, engine breakdowns, delays or cancellations are occurring almost every day. As the revenue of the railway is decreasing, the suffering of the passengers has reached its peak. With the blessings of the fallen government, some corrupt officials are creating obstacles in the development of the railway.

The investigation revealed that despite extensive development in various infrastructure sectors including railway tracks and coaches, the mechanical engineering department has remained steadfast in its old ideology. The railway's investment worth thousands of crores of taka is at risk due to failure to import engines on time. Despite the recent criticism over the engine crisis, the department is still unable to ensure supply as per demand by importing engines or parts.

Meanwhile, there are allegations that the Additional Director General (ADG-RS) is working under the patronage of invisible forces without following any instructions. This has put the railways in further crisis. There are also serious allegations that he was an accomplice of the fallen government.

Railway Eastern Zone General Manager (GM) Mohammad Subaktagin said, "We have been facing an engine crisis for a long time. The crisis started when funding for a major engine import project was cancelled. In addition to repairing the existing engines, there are plans to import 30 engines under the railway construction project. If everything goes well, the railway's engine crisis will be over in a few years."

He further said that the higher authorities are regularly monitoring to prevent any irregularities in the railway administration and a 'zero tolerance' policy is being followed to stop irregularities and corruption. However, Ahmed Mahbub Chowdhury, Additional Director General (Rolling Stock) in charge of the mechanical department, was contacted several times to inquire about various irregularities including the engine, but he could not be found.

According to sources, Ahmed Mahbub Chowdhury is working as an Indian agent. He also takes care of the DG of Railways.

According to the Railway Working Time Table-53, 150 engines are operational in the eastern region after 3 engines were scrapped in 2023. Out of the daily demand of 116 engines, 72 are required for passenger trains, 13 for freight, 16 for shunting, 2 for shuttles, 2 for projects and 11 for relief trains and other works. But only 100 engines are available. As a result, each engine has to be attached to an average of about 3 trains per day to operate 160 passenger and 8 container trains. This additional pressure on old engines is creating a risky situation. This is reducing the speed of trains, increasing the number of breakdowns and gradually reducing the quality of service.

The same situation is in the Western Railway. Out of more than 150 engines, the daily demand here is more than 100, but 62 are allocated for passenger trains, 19 for freight, 5 for shunting, 4 for projects, 2 for BT, 3 for relief trains or army specials and 2 for pilot trains. That is, a total of 87 are available. Although 28 engines are kept as maintenance spares, the remaining engines have to operate more trains than the demand. This is increasing the incidents of breakdowns and schedule violations along the way.

According to the Eastern Region Mechanical Engineering Department, 11 meter gauge engines were imported from South Korea in 2011. After a long break, 30 modern technology engines were brought from Hyundai Rotem Company in 2021. After these engines were added, many old engines were declared abandoned. However, recently, some of the new 3000 series engines have been damaged due to political unrest. Engine number 3015 has been sent for repair to the Central Locomotive Factory in Parbartipur, and engines numbers 3028 and 3030 are under repair at the Pahartali factory in Chittagong. As a result, the railway's transport department is struggling as the new engines are useless and stuck in the shop. In addition, although a huge amount of spare parts are required to repair half a hundred engines, the crisis is not going away due to lack of budget.