Railway track on Padma bridge after inauguration: Minister

Railways minister Nurul Islam has said the Padma Bridge is due to open next June. Setting up railway track on the bridge will start from July and the work will be completed within six months.

The minister said this while visiting the Padma Bridge rail link project in Munshiganj’s Mawa on Sunday.

The work to set up railway track from Dhaka to Mawa would be finished within this year and construction of the railway track up to Faridpur’s Bhanga would be completed in 2023. The railway route is due to be inaugurated on 26 March next year, the minister said adding if the deadline is missed due to any inconvenience, the railway track would be opened in June next year.

The minister said the Padma bridge rail link project started towards the beginning of 2019. The work was hindered due to Covid outbreak, but was not stopped even for a day.

The Padma bridge rail link project was approved in March 2016. The 169-km rail line over the under-construction Padma Bridge with an estimated cost of Tk 392.5 billion (39,246.8 crore) would connect the capital with Jashore.

Bangladesh government is financing Tk 182.1 billion while China government is funding the remaining Tk 213.6 billion.