First passenger train runs on Jamuna Railway Bridge

First passenger train runs on Jamuna Railway Bridge

Bangladesh Railway today ran its first train with passengers onboard on the newly built dual gauge double line railway bridge on the River Jamuna.
“The much-awaited train operation on the newly built railway bridge over the Jamuna River has begun with Dhaka-bound intercity train Silk City Express crossing it at 11:17am,” project director of the bridge Al Fattah M Masudur Rahman said.
He said the train took 10 minutes to cross the bridge 4.8 kilometres long bridge with a speed of 50 kilometre per hour (kph) though the bridge was constructed with the capacity of bearing carriages with 120 kph.
The trains so far needed 20 kph to cross the existing train bridge as an extended structure of the Jamuna Multi Purpose Bridge.
The official, however, said the dedicated railway bridge was set to be opened formally on March 18.
The new dedicated railway bridge is located 300 metres upstream of the Jamuna Multipurpose Bridge.
The project director said at least 88 trains will be able to cross the country longest railway bridge at high speeds.