India keen on rail project as China quits over revised cost
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beijingwalker
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China is always the most competitive bidder, if China decides it's financially not feasible to take this project, almost no one can do this job, let Indians try and see what kind of work they can deliver, Indians are not well known for delivering good quality projects on time, if the project is being delayed again and again, the cost will soar massively.
Dhaka to request Beijing to reconsider funding Joydebpur-Ishwardi rail project
Bangladesh Railway (BR) will request the China government to reconsider funding the Joydebpur-Ishwardi double-line project after the Chinese side pulled out of the project. The decision was taken during a meeting between BR and the Railways Ministry early this month, sources said. The Bangladesh
Dhaka to request Beijing to reconsider funding Joydebpur-Ishwardi rail project
BD idiot govt knows indians cant build anything. They will beg to china to re consider. How humiliating. But BD govt has no shame.
serenity
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Looks like BD government doesn't want Indians to touch this project. China can't do for what is less than required. It is already offered at small margin as possible but politics might help approve the project. BD is becoming more strategically important for China so who knows. Depends on the numbers and how important this project is to both BD and China.
My dear @ALShill, please respond to this post. I thought there are many talented guys like you are in BD. But, this fellow is criticizing our talented people.Why are bamboos needed to jack up rail tracks in Bangladesh?
Md. Saidun Nabi
- Published at 01:08 am July 10th, 2019
Top: The bolts connecting the fishplates on rail tracks in Tangail have been replaced with bamboo pegs. Left: Bamboo placed parallel to rails in Jamalpur. Right: Missing bolts on rail tracks on the Akhaura-Sylhet route Dhaka Tribune
Railway officials admit it is not a standard practice, but are reluctant to remove them from the tracks and bridgesbang
The allocation that Bangladesh Railway gets for yearly upkeep of its 4,300km tracks, has got a big boost over the past three years. The maintenance budget jumped by nearly 50% – from Tk163 crore in 2017-18 fiscal year to over Tk244 crore in 2019-20 fiscal year.
But the higher budget does not translate into better maintenance. And here comes the role of bamboos to buoy up the otherwise poorly maintained tracks loosely fitted with rusted fishplates, and missing bolts.
Recent news and photographs of bamboos being used to jack up train tracks in absence of the necessary iron joints and fishplates have made it to newspaper headlines in the country – causing much worry among train travellers in Bangladesh.
Railway authorities have admitted that nowhere in the world are bamboos used in lieu of iron joints, bolts and fishplates. But they cannot explain why it is happening in Bangladesh.
A Bangladesh Railway official, stationed at the infrastructure wing, said they preferred bamboos to metal sheets or iron rods to keep the sleepers in place.
“This is because metal sheets or iron rods get stolen from the tracks and bridges,” he said, requesting anonymity.
It is to be noted that, on February 13, 2017, the then railways minister Mazibul Haque told parliament that using bamboo to support railway tracks was not risky, as these bamboos did not carry loads of the trains.
Speaking to Dhaka Tribune, Bangladesh Railway Director General Md Shamsuzzaman, too, said it was not essential to use bamboos as they do not bear the main load of passenger and freight trains.
However, he said bamboos provided good support to the sleepers on the tracks since they keep sleepers in their designated slots.
When asked if such a formula is applied anywhere else in the world, he said no.
“Bamboos are not used even in our neighbouring countries including India,” he said.
“This is, of course, not a standard practice. But we have been following this method for ages,” he said, adding that they had no plans to remove the bamboos.
“Why should we take down the bamboos from the railway tracks and bridges when they are not causing any harm?” he asked.
Replying to another query over the use of small pieces of wood to tighten fishplates, Shamsuzzaman, who took charge of Bangladesh Railway on July 4, said: “Why would we do so? Perhaps someone intentionally put small logs in the fishplates – to tarnish our image.
“They could also, possibly do so to take pictures,” he added.
Md Abdul Zalil, chief engineer at the east zone, said they had no choice but to use bamboos due to “special reasons” – something he refused to disclose.
He suggested that this reporter visit railway tracks and bridges to see the reality on the ground instead.
“Nobody wants to willingly use bamboos; we do so because of those reasons,” Zalil said, claiming that they did not support using bamboos on the tracks.
Following the “negative” coverage in news, Zalil said they had started removing the bamboos – contradicting the railway DG’s comment that they had no plans to remove them.
A shocking shortage of manpower
When it comes to manning the job of railway track maintenance, Bangladesh Railway is poorly poised due to a massive shortage of manpower, according to railway statistics.
Under the railway’s east and west zones, there are 2,127 and 1,459 posts of wayman – a fourth-class designation meant for monitoring the tracks – respectively.
Of them, 540 posts are vacant in the east zone, while the west zone has only 940 waymen.
These numbers show why it is not possible to properly monitor the railway tracks across Bangladesh, an official working in Bangladesh Railway’s infrastructure wing said, requesting anonymity.
He could not say why or for how long these posts have been lying vacant.
In June this year, the government recruited 836 waymen, but they have yet to join.
A highly placed railway official, on condition of anonymity, said manpower crisis was hindering regular maintenance and repair services of the train tracks and bridges.
When asked how often the maintenance and repair works are done, he said: “The work continues round the year.”
According to railway authorities, a team comprising a third-class and a maximum of seven fourth-class employees are tasked with monitoring the train tracks and bridges in every railway station in Bangladesh.
Usually, they are tasked with covering 6km of tracks on average every day.
“But due to manpower shortage, it becomes an uphill task to do thorough surveillance on around 4,300km of railway tracks across the country,” he added.
More money needed?
Despite an significant increase in budget, some railway officials said the allocation for Bangladesh Railway was still not enough to cover maintenance expenses.
“We need an even bigger allocation to maintain the railway tracks, but the Ministry of Finance grants a small sum of money,” a finance official of Bangladesh Railway, requesting anonymity, said.
Asked about the recent bump up in budget allocation for the railway, he said even this increase is enough to run maintenance of the entire railway network, adding that if the government wanted, it could look into how the allocation is spent.
“The expected development in this sector will not come until a bigger budget is sanctioned – and on a regular basis,” he further said. Mahbub Kabir Milon, moderator of Facebook page named Bangladesh Railway Fans' Forum, alleged that a large sum of the budget is misappropriated.
“Can the railway authorities say when they last ran maintenance? Can they show the real documents of maintenance expenses?” Milon asked.
“I think locals and even public representatives of a certain area have little idea about the very last maintenance job and repair work,” he said, terming the use of bamboos a “shameful act.”
Experts’ take
Prof Md Mizanur Rahman, director of the Accident Research Institute under the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (Buet), said using bamboos on railway tracks was not technically logical.
“I have not worked in the sector, but from what I understand, using bamboos to keep sleepers in place, or pieces of wood on fishplates, is not allowed in ideal engineering practice,” he told Dhaka Tribune.
Seconding Mizanur’s statement, Hasib Mohammed Ahsan, civil engineering professor of Buet, who has been working in the railway sector for several years, said bamboos or wooden logs can only be used in case of emergency.
“This in no way falls under standard engineering practice… I doubt such a method is applied anywhere else in the world,” he added. Protests by netizens and passenger rights campaigners sparked after four people were killed and around 67 injured as an intercity train service named Upaban Express derailed at Baramchal in the Kulaura upazila, Moulvibazar on June 23.
Following the accident, several media outlets ran reports and published pictures showing bamboos and wooden logs being used on railway tracks and bridges.
In the wake of the protests and media reports, Bangladesh Railway, in late June, issued a statement in support of bamboo use, saying: “In order to keep sleepers from moving out of square and remain attached to each other, bamboo sticks or wooden logs has been used as an additional safety measure for decades.
“Bamboos or logs do not carry the load of trains. They stop sleepers from slipping off their slots. The bamboo sticks and timbers are not at all parts of the main structure of railway bridges, and they do not hamper the safety of the train service,” the statement added.
So, please answer him that even BD bamboo sticks are better than BD steel.
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Living rent free in your mind having fun being hikkikomori in Japan?
Living rent free in your mind having fun being hikkikomori in Japan?
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You were crying for our Golden Bangladesh. But when I gave you another opportunity to cry and shout about the achievements of BD you are making fun of a poor, servant class guy. Very sad!!
You were crying for our Golden Bangladesh. But when I gave you another opportunity to cry and shout about the achievements of BD you are making fun of a poor, servant class guy. Very sad!!
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Ok hikkikomri I'm under no delusion where bangladesh is at but I also don't bend over backwards to racist Indians
You were crying for our Golden Bangladesh. But when I gave you another opportunity to cry and shout about the achievements of BD you are making fun of a poor, servant class guy. Very sad!!
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This is the same person advocating for failed neoliberal ideas like railway privatization anyways stop talking economics on this forum you have about as much knowledge as the average desi uncle who talks after reading some random article online
You were crying for our Golden Bangladesh. But when I gave you another opportunity to cry and shout about the achievements of BD you are making fun of a poor, servant class guy. Very sad!!
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Anyways India and Bangladesh have the exact same exports per capita. If Bangladesh has failed than India has done even worse
Their exports have stayed pretty much stagnant for years while Bangladesh's exports have grown. You constantly harp on about lack of diversification when it is slowly happening due to the various infrastructure ongoing. At the end of the day we can't look into the the future and we don't what will happen so stop being gloomy all the time
Do you think being a rich guy do you like a guy who achieved nothing? It is the same in international and regional matters. No country respects a beggar country. And every country hates another country that does nothing to achieve self-reliance.
Why blame India and not blame the beggar leadership of BD? I am a servant class of person, but your great leaders are all beggar type of people as well as thieves who regularly steal money that was begged for the country's well being.
India failed? But, it is India that is proposing to build the railway line in BD.
So, why do not our great BD offers India to build its railway instead? How about BD building Bullet train Lines in India? Why the same status BD cannot do it?
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