Newly built Jamuna rail bridge to be renamed

The newly built Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Railway Bridge over the Jamuna River is awaiting its inauguration. However, the government is taking a decision to change the name of the bridge before its inauguration.

Project Director Al Fattah Masudur Rahman confirmed the matter on Friday.

He said that although the name of Bangabandhu Railway Bridge has not been changed yet, discussions are being held at a high level regarding the matter. The railway bridge may be renamed before the inauguration. senior officials of the Railway Authority will inaugurate it.

Al Fattah further said that so far the overall progress of the project is 96 percent. And the progress of the construction work has been 99 percent. "We will be able to complete all the work for train movement by December. We want to open this bridge for rail movement from the second week of January. It may take till April to install the digital computer-based signals. However, this delay will not cause any problem in the rail traffic, as the analog signals can be used temporarily."

According to the project details, the main construction work was done with the financial support of Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). JICA has given around Tk12,000 crore, while the rest of the money came from the Government of Bangladesh (GOB) fund.

Two Japanese joint-venture firms have been carrying out the major works of the project taken in 2016.

The dual-gauge double-track bridge, having gas pipeline facility, is being built some 3,00 metres upstream of the Bangabandhu Bridge, having a single rail line.

In December 2016, the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council passed the bridge project at a cost of Tk9,734 crore and the project was scheduled to be completed by December 2023.