Bangladesh Railway (BR) has undertaken a project to construct new railway lines from Kashiani to Tungipara via Gopalganj with a view to bringing the area under railway network and establishing easy connectivity.Under these circumstances, railway lines from Kalukhali in Rajbari to Bhatiapara in Gopalganj would also be renovated along with this project which is estimated at aro-und Tk 11,000 crore, the project director Ramjan Ali said.
He also said, 85 kilometers of abandoned railway lines from Kalukhali to Bhatiapara are being repaired and a new 55-kilometre rail track constructed up to Bangabandhu's grave in Tungipara. Railways Minister Mujibul Haque told The Asian Age that under the new project, 80% of the rail line from Kalukhali in Rajbari to Kashiani's Bhatiapara has already been completed and 50%of the rail line from Kashiani to Gobra.
Railways Ministry sources said the railway lines from Bhatiapara of Gopalganj and Kalukhali will establish link with Faridpur, Jessore, Khulna and North Bengal. But the route was abandoned in 1997 as part BR's policy to reduce losses. After this, a group of unscrupulous people plundered and occupied the properties of railway.
Local farm Max Infrastructure Limited has won the contract for rail track construction contract at a cost of about Tk 628 crore and it has been building the 32.365 km fresh rail line from Kashiani-Gopalganj under the package WD 6 of the Bangladesh Railway's main project titled "Kalukhalui-Bhatiapara Railway Line Rehabilitation and Kashiani-Gopalganj-Tungipara New Railway Track Construction and construction of 5 km loop line, station building and bridge are also included in the contract package, the project director said.
-P R Biswas, AA