Jumbangla Desk: Today (November 26), after a long wait, a trial train is running through the Bangabandhu Railway Bridge built on the Yamuna River.
The train is going to the western part of Sirajganj after leaving the eastern part of Bhuyapur over the longest railway bridge in the country.
Some officials said that an engine with three coaches of the train left the eastern part of Bhuyapur section at 9:42 am and went to the western part of Sirajganj. The train returns to East Bank at 10:41.
Another train from Sirajganj end with one engine and three coaches arrived at the east end at 10:20 am and started its journey towards the west end at 10:29 am. Initially moving at a speed of 10 km, but later the two trains move at a speed of 40 km.
Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Railway Bridge Project Director Al Fattah Masudur Rahman said that trains will officially start running on this bridge next December. But even if it starts, it will take another two months for the train to reach full speed.
According to project sources, the construction of the bridge started in August 2020. Its cost was estimated at 9 thousand 734.7 crore taka. Later the cost increased to 16 thousand 780.96 crores. Of which 12 thousand 149.2 crores have been given by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) as a loan. The time frame for this project was from July 2016 to December 2023. But in the first amendment this deadline was made to December 2024. Earlier on December 6, 2016, the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) approved the project.