Transport

Bangladesh Railway today conducted a trial run with trains running at full speed on the Jamuna Railway Bridge.

Two trains started to move simultaneously from the up and down lines at a speed of 60 kilometres per hour around 9:30am, said Abu Fattah Masudur Rahman, project director of this railway bridge.

The trains were then tested at speeds of 60 km per hour, then 80 km, 90 km, 100 km, 110 km and finally 120 km per hour, he said.

The trial run will continue till tomorrow.

He also said that the railway bridge will be inaugurated soon if everything goes well with the trial train movement.

Earlier on November 26, the first trial run was conducted through the railway bridge successfully at a maximum speed of 40 km.

The construction of the bridge began in August 2020 at a cost of Tk 9,734.7 crores. Later, this expenditure increased to Tk 16,780.96 crores, out of which Tk 12,149.2 crores have been taken as a loan from Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).

The project was scheduled to be completed in December, 2023. But later the deadline was extended until December, 2024.

The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council approved the project on December 6, 2016. The Japanese company OTG and IHI Joint Venture is working as the contractor for the bridge.