The Padma Bridge railway link project in Bangladesh started trial operation on April 4. For the first time, a train is able to run across the fast-flowing Padma River.
A train operates on the Padma Bridge railway in Bangladesh on April 4. [Photo/sasac.gov.cn]
With a total length of 170 kilometers, the Padma Bridge railway link project starts from Dhaka, capital of the country, and stretches southwest to Jessore. The railway is for dual use of passenger and freight trains and has a designed speed of 120 kilometers per hour.
The project is planned in three sections and 80 percent of the total construction has been completed.
The trial locomotive was developed by a Chinese company.
A total of 100 locomotives were booked for the railway and 45 of them have already been transported to the country and completed operational testing.
China Railway Group Limited (CREC) is responsible for the project.
A train operates on the Padma Bridge railway in Bangladesh on April 4. [Photo/sasac.gov.cn]
The company directly created more than 20,000 jobs for local people during construction and cultivated technical workers in various fields of infrastructure construction, contributing to development of China-Bangladesh friendship.
A bird's-eye view of a section of the Padma Bridge railway link project in Bangladesh [Photo/sasac.gov.cn]
A key section of the railway link project, the Padma Bridge is the largest individual bridge project built by Chinese enterprises overseas.
Located at the downstream of the Padma River, its 6.15-kilometer main bridge is a double-deck steel truss bridge. The upper layer is a four-lane highway and the lower level is a single-lane railway.
The bridge opened to traffic on June 25, 2022 after eight years of construction, ending the history that people could only travel between the two banks by ferry, which won the title "Bridge of Dreams" in the minds of local people.
The entire railway link project is scheduled to be completed in June 2024, connecting more than 20 districts with the capital city.
Once operational, travel time between Dhaka and Jessore will be shortened from 10 hours to two, which is expected to boost Bangladesh's GDP growth by about 1.5 percent, benefiting more than half of the country's population.
In addition to its contribution to the country's economic development, its operation will promote connectivity between Bangladesh and the rest of South Asia. It will also help improve the Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar railway construction and be of great significance for the implementation of the Belt and Road Initiative and the construction of the Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar Economic Corridor.
(Executive editor: Xie Yunxiao)
