India hands over 88 A/C buses to Bangladesh

[Anubis]

Well we use transit for heavy duty load which does not require more security because mostly those are construction equipment, Boilers, heavy machinery etc.
For east what do you mean Myanmar or our NE region.

NE....Military equipments to fight separatists!

 

[Manindra]

NE....Military equipments to fight separatists!

Then we use Myanmar route (expensive) if you don't have problem with it


Bangladesh does not seperate NE from India but its economical to use BD route.

 

[Anubis]

Then we use Myanmar route (expensive) if you don't have problem with it


Bangladesh does not seperate NE from India but its economical to use BD route.

Sure go ahead....U can send Military supplies through Burma and regular supplies through BD given we get Teesta issue sorted out which seems to be going no where!

 

[BATMAN]

India hands over 88 A/C buses to Bangladesh

India basically handed over buses to Hussaina Khalid .. who is a known RAW worker.

No Muslim country is willing to give aid to scum lady.

 

[Shimz]

Present condition of some of those buses
We have some serious good brands to offer on the road so what pakistani people gets to travel on roads?
Volvo..man mercedes benz scania??Will be waiting for response

 

[Bilal9]

It is not true that Bangladesh cannot make buses like this. I have heard people talk about local bus manufacture back from the eighties. In fact the larger custom buses (like heavier three axle intercity buses) are still locally made as custom projects by local carriage companies. Those are very luxurious and usually use HINO chassis.

Its just that Indian buses because of their market are cheaper.

 

[Shimz]

It is not true that Bangladesh cannot make buses like this. I have heard people talk about local bus manufacture back from the eighties. In fact the larger custom buses (like heavier three axle intercity buses) are still locally made as custom projects by local carriage companies. Those are very luxurious and usually use HINO chassis.

Its just that Indian buses because of their market are cheaper.

You are simply correct!This is called Hino RM2
The chassis is imported and the body made by aftab automobiles which saves a lot of money
Engine-K13D
Its 1st gen bus was introduced in 2008
2nd gen bus was introduced in 2011
This has become popular after hitting the road and many operators showed interest and this business went along
Currently this cost around 1.5 cr
Isuzu,Mitsubishi buses are also coming into the market in the same way.....Chassis imported on local body
Banlgadesh has been doing this since 1990'z As the time kept passing they developed themselves and came upto this far
Even the scania operator are doing the same thing.....Shohagh and Gl both of them are importing chassis and making the body by themselve
Below i have included those 2 scania(BODY MADE IN BANGLADESH)..One of Shohagh and the other one of Greenline....Scania entered in Banlgadesh 2004-2005(First in southeast asia)We are used to with luxury for a long time

 

[Shimz]

Some Buses in Bangladesh

 

[Shimz]

Some more pics will be coming soon!

 

[Bilal9]

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Some more pics will be coming soon!

Great Post and Thanks for all the pictures!

It is only in India that you can get economical AC coaches for general government use (BRTC) like this for say ~US$50,000.

The local heavy luxury coaches (much more expensive) have been in use in Bangladesh in the early nineties - way before Tata and TVS tied up with Spanish bus manufacturers and started making low floor and special Euro-design buses. The Indian 1-Billion dollar credit was sitting around and the Govt. was dumbfounded on what to order from India because past experience (no offense) of ordering Taxis, Railway coaches and buses has been pretty dismal (It's a matter of record if you need to know). Finally - they settled on some economical AC coaches and some special Railway Locomotives from CLW to avail of the Indian credit.

Last year - a whole tranche of the credit was still lying unused. The Railways were vehemently against importing Indian coaches and locos because historically there have been so many issues. This is fact. Everyone knows this in Bangladesh.

If you ask me - our experience in Bangladesh with this type of credit is that eventually it ends up benefiting only the donor country and the productivity within that country. So TVS/Tata/AshokLeyland and DLW/CLW will gain but not our industry locally. Bangladesh in my opinion was definitely capable of building this type of bus in the eighties or earlier. Our buses made locally at Pragati Industries in Chittagong since the seventies exceeded Indian bus quality (of the same type) by several degrees. Only recently (last decade), Ashok Leyland and Tata buses have come up in quality and design.

However the numbers needed locally cannot support the cost of tooling etc. If we only need 300 buses of this type every year then it doesn't make sense to come up with bus frames and panel pressings. India is a bigger country and their bus market is a lot larger.

Today Bangladesh is self-sufficient in a lot of things - meaning electronics (fridges, TV's, cellphones) as well as Motorcycles and small farm equipment. We will never buy imported motorcycle or fridges anymore unless they are super high-end ones. In fact we are already exporting those in significant numbers overseas. So,

a) Our export basket is already more than just Garments
b) No amount of credit will make us buy imported fridges or motorcycles.

I am very surprised why they had to import these. I believe we should have,

a) Negotiated a better price by at least assembling them locally
b) Told a local auto major like Nitol to work with Tata on doing this which they are already doing.

Luxury Coaches made and used in Bangladesh on imported Japanese, Swedish or German (HINO, MAN, SCANIA, VOLVO, MBZ) chassis used by private bus lines like Shohagh, Hanif et al cost way more. I'd say the cost of Bangladeshi coaches made here (especially the three axle ones) is about three times as much circa US$150,000 or so. Can't get those for US$50,000.

I believe the type of person that rides Shohagh or Hanif Coaches belong to a totally different customer base than the BRTC Indian coaches which are used by the 'Aam Janta'. BRTC is the equivalent of the 'Ghareeb Rath' of Indian Railways, A/C included or not. Hence the plain seats ordered by BRTC if that clears it up.

 

[nForce]

@Shimz these buses look good. Any export market for them ?

Also, this may be a little out of the way, but do you know about any bio-diesel variants ?

 

[Bilal9]

@Shimz these buses look good. Any export market for them ?

Also, this may be a little out of the way, but do you know about any bio-diesel variants ?

These buses are currently (maybe) only sold locally. I don't think the diesel engines used in these buses are tuned to use bio-diesel but I could be wrong. Aftab Auto (A subsidiary of Navana Group) is a local renewable fuel/energy specialist however and they have many tie-ups with CNG conversion and solar energy companies globally. They have recently introduced the third gen. Prius in Bangladesh which is the hybrid variant (not plug-in variant).

Please contact them at,

125/A, Motijheel Commercial Area , Dhaka-1000, Bangladesh.

Tel : 9552212 Fax : 9566324

e-mail : info@aftabauto.com

 

[nForce]

These buses are currently (maybe) only sold locally. I don't think the diesel engines used in these buses are tuned to use bio-diesel but I could be wrong. Aftab Auto (A subsidiary of Navana Group) is a local renewable fuel/energy specialist however and they have many tie-ups with CNG conversion and solar energy companies globally. They have recently introduced the third gen. Prius in Bangladesh which is the hybrid variant (not plug-in variant).

Please contact them at,

125/A, Motijheel Commercial Area , Dhaka-1000, Bangladesh.

Tel : 9552212 Fax : 9566324

e-mail : info@aftabauto.com

Thanks for the headway.

 

[Bilal9]

HNS Heavy Industries has started assembling HYUNDAI 'Universe', 'Universe Express' and 'Premium Universe' buses locally, major body panels and some parts are also being sourced locally. As demand increases - indigenization of parts will increase, leading to eventual market expansion locally and then export. Labor cost is of course in favor of local manufacture.

And what Bangladeshi bus interior would be complete without a shocking red silk & leather interior? Ugh.... Bring your sunglasses people...

 

[Bilal9]

Couple more...