India keen on rail project as China quits over revised cost

[Black_cats]

India keen on rail project as China quits over revised cost

BANGLADESH
Saifuddin Saif
03 August, 2021, 12:00 pm
Last modified: 03 August, 2021, 12:10 pm

India keen on rail project as China quits over revised cost

A Chinese contractor got the work of converting Akhaura-Sylhet metre gauge railway line into dual gauge in April 2019

www.tbsnews.net

A Chinese contractor got the work of converting Akhaura-Sylhet metre gauge railway line into dual gauge in April 2019

TBS Infograph

TBS Infograph

Indian state-run Ircon International has come forward and promised to ensure financing of the conversion of Akhaura-Sylhet metre gauge railway line into dual gauge if awarded the job as China backtracked on implementing the project citing cost reduction.

A Chinese contractor won the project through a government-to-government (G2G) arrangement in April 2019 when the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) approved Tk16,104 crore as the project cost.

Later, the cost was deemed to be much higher than other similar projects and the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) revised it down by more than Tk3,354 crore. China then informed the PMO of its decision not to go ahead with the funding and the construction.

In a recent letter to Railway Minister Nurul Islam Sujan, Ircon said it was willing to implement the project through funding form the Exim Bank of India.

It also said it had completed more than 16 projects in Bangladesh since 1986 and its familiarity with the local terrain and socio-economic conditions near the project site would be an added advantage in executing the railway project.

Those involved in the sector said projects implemented through G2G initiatives with Chinese funding cost very high and there was no open invitation of tenders. Similarly, only Indian contractors are invited to submit tenders for implementation of India-funded projects.
In the Akhaura-Sylhet railway project, Ircon will be the contractor if Indian fund is used.

Experiences with the ongoing and previous projects that have been funded by India do not hold much hope, sources said. Indian contractors took more time than expected to begin construction and did not bring building materials to the sites on time.

There is evidence of use of low-quality materials in railway projects as well. Several reports of the railway ministry also pointed out that Indian contractors did not pay heed to complaints.
On the other hand, if projects are funded by development partners, such as the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) or the Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica), contractors across the world can participate in tenders.

The railway ministry, however, said it still wanted to discuss the project with China and was not thinking of the proposal by India. If China does not come back to the negotiation table, the government will consider India, World Bank, ADB or Jica as alternative sources of funding.

Md Khaled Hussain, joint secretary to the railways ministry, said the Economic Relations Division (ERD) would see the matter of funding of the project.

He said no conclusion had been drawn yet regarding Chinese funding. The railways ministry will write to the ERD to look for other sources of funds after the government reaches a final decision.

In doing so, the authorities will see which source of loans will better serve the interest of Bangladesh, Khaled said.

Mirana Mahrukh, joint secretary at the ERD, said China had asked Bangladesh to revise the proposal, but the railway ministry was yet to send a revised version to the ERD.

Planning Commission objects to Chinese funding

A project proposal to change the 225km Akhaura-Sylhet metre gauge railway line into dual gauge was made at the beginning of 2018 and the cost was estimated at Tk15,705 crore. The Planning Commission at the time objected to the proposal upon analysing costs of other similar projects.

In a report, the Commission said the estimates in the proposal of ballasts, slippers and other materials were much higher compared to costs of other projects of the same nature. Overall, the cost of the Akhaura-Sylhet rail line project was several times the costs of other projects, which was

why, the Commission said, accepting Chinese funding would not be prudent.

For example, the cost of per kilometre construction of the Akhaura-Sylhet rail line was set at Tk56.72 crore whereas building the Akhaura-Laksam dual gauge railway tracks cost the government Tk24.80 crore per kilometre.

The selection of a contractor without any competitive bidding procedure was another reason behind the objection, the Commission said.

The finance ministry finally decided to cancel the implementation of the railway project with Chinese funding.

The Planning Commission said the dual gauge railway line, if constructed, would not increase train operations on the route. If a double line and a dual gauge were set up, only then people would be benefited, it added.

The then finance minister AMA Muhith echoed the view in a letter.

Due to the opposition of the Planning Commission, the project proposal was not placed at the Ecnec meeting at the time.

But after the change of the government and the change of the finance and planning ministers, the Akhaura-Sylhet railway project got approval of Ecnec in 2019 with the project cost fixed at Tk16,104 crore.

 

[bluesky]

India keen on rail project as China quits over revised cost

Our people are celebrating here that BD GDP growth is higher than that of India. When this is the reality, I am surprised to read that India is offering to rebuild our railway tracks and it is not the other way. BD is not helping India to upgrade that country's railway.

I think BD should build its own railway tracks with its own talented engineers, surveyors, technicians, and workers and also rather offer to rebuild Indian railway tracks.

This is how BD can prove to the world that its GDP data are not pure fakes.

 

[Jobless Jack]

Best build own railways without any investment. That will allow your country to train and give valuable exp to engineers and other skilled workers for similar future projects.

Getting catfished by India on the covid vaccine was not example enough as to how far BD can rely on india?

 

[Cheepek]

India is offering to rebuild our railway tracks and it is not the other way.

Thank you for the joke of the day!

 

[SpaceMan18]

Thank you for the joke of the day!

The only joke I see here is India's foreign policy

 

[mmr]

Lol for real?

A blind person cant show another blind how to drive.

 

[Maula Jatt]

Our people are celebrating here that BD GDP growth is higher than that of India. When this is the reality, I am surprised to read that India is offering to rebuild our railway tracks and it is not the other way. BD is not helping India to upgrade that country's railway.

I think BD should build its own railway tracks with its own talented engineers, surveyors, technicians, and workers and also rather offer to rebuild Indian railway tracks.

This is how BD can prove to the world that its GDP data are not pure fakes.

Indians really aren't all that humble are they?....

Honestly do you really think Chinese would have responded to that quote like how Indians have responded

That's personifies the difference between the two countries,

 

[SUVdaddy]

The only joke I see here is India's foreign policy

Yup , it's a joke that we offered you help here , but joke on whom ??

Obviously on Bangladeshi like you (who suck upon Chinese to look deveolpment friendly but end up paying more for similar projects ) , as they are yet so inefficient to build a railway line in such difficult terrain .

We have built several lines in North east , kashmir and other mountainous region ,so does on western ghats , if you would have asked for assistance earlier ,you would have modified whole of your railway , but nope . It will harm Bangladeshi pride

 

[bluesky]

Why are bamboos needed to jack up rail tracks in Bangladesh?
Md. Saidun Nabi

• Published at 01:08 am July 10th, 2019

Top: The bolts connecting the fishplates on rail tracks in Tangail have been replaced with bamboo pegs. Left: Bamboo placed parallel to rails in Jamalpur. Right: Missing bolts on rail tracks on the Akhaura-Sylhet route Dhaka Tribune

Railway officials admit it is not a standard practice, but are reluctant to remove them from the tracks and bridgesbang
The allocation that Bangladesh Railway gets for yearly upkeep of its 4,300km tracks, has got a big boost over the past three years. The maintenance budget jumped by nearly 50% – from Tk163 crore in 2017-18 fiscal year to over Tk244 crore in 2019-20 fiscal year.
But the higher budget does not translate into better maintenance. And here comes the role of bamboos to buoy up the otherwise poorly maintained tracks loosely fitted with rusted fishplates, and missing bolts.
Recent news and photographs of bamboos being used to jack up train tracks in absence of the necessary iron joints and fishplates have made it to newspaper headlines in the country – causing much worry among train travellers in Bangladesh.
Railway authorities have admitted that nowhere in the world are bamboos used in lieu of iron joints, bolts and fishplates. But they cannot explain why it is happening in Bangladesh.
A Bangladesh Railway official, stationed at the infrastructure wing, said they preferred bamboos to metal sheets or iron rods to keep the sleepers in place.
“This is because metal sheets or iron rods get stolen from the tracks and bridges,” he said, requesting anonymity.
It is to be noted that, on February 13, 2017, the then railways minister Mazibul Haque told parliament that using bamboo to support railway tracks was not risky, as these bamboos did not carry loads of the trains.
Speaking to Dhaka Tribune, Bangladesh Railway Director General Md Shamsuzzaman, too, said it was not essential to use bamboos as they do not bear the main load of passenger and freight trains.
However, he said bamboos provided good support to the sleepers on the tracks since they keep sleepers in their designated slots.
When asked if such a formula is applied anywhere else in the world, he said no.

“Bamboos are not used even in our neighbouring countries including India,” he said.
“This is, of course, not a standard practice. But we have been following this method for ages,” he said, adding that they had no plans to remove the bamboos.
“Why should we take down the bamboos from the railway tracks and bridges when they are not causing any harm?” he asked.
Replying to another query over the use of small pieces of wood to tighten fishplates, Shamsuzzaman, who took charge of Bangladesh Railway on July 4, said: “Why would we do so? Perhaps someone intentionally put small logs in the fishplates – to tarnish our image.
“They could also, possibly do so to take pictures,” he added.
Md Abdul Zalil, chief engineer at the east zone, said they had no choice but to use bamboos due to “special reasons” – something he refused to disclose.
He suggested that this reporter visit railway tracks and bridges to see the reality on the ground instead.
“Nobody wants to willingly use bamboos; we do so because of those reasons,” Zalil said, claiming that they did not support using bamboos on the tracks.
Following the “negative” coverage in news, Zalil said they had started removing the bamboos – contradicting the railway DG’s comment that they had no plans to remove them.
A shocking shortage of manpower
When it comes to manning the job of railway track maintenance, Bangladesh Railway is poorly poised due to a massive shortage of manpower, according to railway statistics.
Under the railway’s east and west zones, there are 2,127 and 1,459 posts of wayman – a fourth-class designation meant for monitoring the tracks – respectively.
Of them, 540 posts are vacant in the east zone, while the west zone has only 940 waymen.
These numbers show why it is not possible to properly monitor the railway tracks across Bangladesh, an official working in Bangladesh Railway’s infrastructure wing said, requesting anonymity.
He could not say why or for how long these posts have been lying vacant.
In June this year, the government recruited 836 waymen, but they have yet to join.
A highly placed railway official, on condition of anonymity, said manpower crisis was hindering regular maintenance and repair services of the train tracks and bridges.
When asked how often the maintenance and repair works are done, he said: “The work continues round the year.”
According to railway authorities, a team comprising a third-class and a maximum of seven fourth-class employees are tasked with monitoring the train tracks and bridges in every railway station in Bangladesh.
Usually, they are tasked with covering 6km of tracks on average every day.
“But due to manpower shortage, it becomes an uphill task to do thorough surveillance on around 4,300km of railway tracks across the country,” he added.
More money needed?
Despite an significant increase in budget, some railway officials said the allocation for Bangladesh Railway was still not enough to cover maintenance expenses.
“We need an even bigger allocation to maintain the railway tracks, but the Ministry of Finance grants a small sum of money,” a finance official of Bangladesh Railway, requesting anonymity, said.
Asked about the recent bump up in budget allocation for the railway, he said even this increase is enough to run maintenance of the entire railway network, adding that if the government wanted, it could look into how the allocation is spent.

“The expected development in this sector will not come until a bigger budget is sanctioned – and on a regular basis,” he further said. Mahbub Kabir Milon, moderator of Facebook page named Bangladesh Railway Fans' Forum, alleged that a large sum of the budget is misappropriated.
“Can the railway authorities say when they last ran maintenance? Can they show the real documents of maintenance expenses?” Milon asked.

“I think locals and even public representatives of a certain area have little idea about the very last maintenance job and repair work,” he said, terming the use of bamboos a “shameful act.”

Experts’ take
Prof Md Mizanur Rahman, director of the Accident Research Institute under the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (Buet), said using bamboos on railway tracks was not technically logical.

“I have not worked in the sector, but from what I understand, using bamboos to keep sleepers in place, or pieces of wood on fishplates, is not allowed in ideal engineering practice,” he told Dhaka Tribune.

Seconding Mizanur’s statement, Hasib Mohammed Ahsan, civil engineering professor of Buet, who has been working in the railway sector for several years, said bamboos or wooden logs can only be used in case of emergency.

“This in no way falls under standard engineering practice… I doubt such a method is applied anywhere else in the world,” he added. Protests by netizens and passenger rights campaigners sparked after four people were killed and around 67 injured as an intercity train service named Upaban Express derailed at Baramchal in the Kulaura upazila, Moulvibazar on June 23.

Following the accident, several media outlets ran reports and published pictures showing bamboos and wooden logs being used on railway tracks and bridges.

In the wake of the protests and media reports, Bangladesh Railway, in late June, issued a statement in support of bamboo use, saying: “In order to keep sleepers from moving out of square and remain attached to each other, bamboo sticks or wooden logs has been used as an additional safety measure for decades.

“Bamboos or logs do not carry the load of trains. They stop sleepers from slipping off their slots. The bamboo sticks and timbers are not at all parts of the main structure of railway bridges, and they do not hamper the safety of the train service,” the statement added.

[/QUOTE]
My dear @ALShill, please respond to this post. I thought there are many talented guys like you are in BD. But, this fellow is criticizing our talented people.

So, please answer him that even BD bamboo sticks are better than BD steel.

 

[SUVdaddy]

Why are bamboos needed to jack up rail tracks in Bangladesh?
Md. Saidun Nabi

• Published at 01:08 am July 10th, 2019

Top: The bolts connecting the fishplates on rail tracks in Tangail have been replaced with bamboo pegs. Left: Bamboo placed parallel to rails in Jamalpur. Right: Missing bolts on rail tracks on the Akhaura-Sylhet route Dhaka Tribune

Railway officials admit it is not a standard practice, but are reluctant to remove them from the tracks and bridgesbang
The allocation that Bangladesh Railway gets for yearly upkeep of its 4,300km tracks, has got a big boost over the past three years. The maintenance budget jumped by nearly 50% – from Tk163 crore in 2017-18 fiscal year to over Tk244 crore in 2019-20 fiscal year.
But the higher budget does not translate into better maintenance. And here comes the role of bamboos to buoy up the otherwise poorly maintained tracks loosely fitted with rusted fishplates, and missing bolts.
Recent news and photographs of bamboos being used to jack up train tracks in absence of the necessary iron joints and fishplates have made it to newspaper headlines in the country – causing much worry among train travellers in Bangladesh.
Railway authorities have admitted that nowhere in the world are bamboos used in lieu of iron joints, bolts and fishplates. But they cannot explain why it is happening in Bangladesh.
A Bangladesh Railway official, stationed at the infrastructure wing, said they preferred bamboos to metal sheets or iron rods to keep the sleepers in place.
“This is because metal sheets or iron rods get stolen from the tracks and bridges,” he said, requesting anonymity.
It is to be noted that, on February 13, 2017, the then railways minister Mazibul Haque told parliament that using bamboo to support railway tracks was not risky, as these bamboos did not carry loads of the trains.
Speaking to Dhaka Tribune, Bangladesh Railway Director General Md Shamsuzzaman, too, said it was not essential to use bamboos as they do not bear the main load of passenger and freight trains.
However, he said bamboos provided good support to the sleepers on the tracks since they keep sleepers in their designated slots.
When asked if such a formula is applied anywhere else in the world, he said no.

“Bamboos are not used even in our neighbouring countries including India,” he said.
“This is, of course, not a standard practice. But we have been following this method for ages,” he said, adding that they had no plans to remove the bamboos.
“Why should we take down the bamboos from the railway tracks and bridges when they are not causing any harm?” he asked.
Replying to another query over the use of small pieces of wood to tighten fishplates, Shamsuzzaman, who took charge of Bangladesh Railway on July 4, said: “Why would we do so? Perhaps someone intentionally put small logs in the fishplates – to tarnish our image.
“They could also, possibly do so to take pictures,” he added.
Md Abdul Zalil, chief engineer at the east zone, said they had no choice but to use bamboos due to “special reasons” – something he refused to disclose.
He suggested that this reporter visit railway tracks and bridges to see the reality on the ground instead.
“Nobody wants to willingly use bamboos; we do so because of those reasons,” Zalil said, claiming that they did not support using bamboos on the tracks.
Following the “negative” coverage in news, Zalil said they had started removing the bamboos – contradicting the railway DG’s comment that they had no plans to remove them.
A shocking shortage of manpower
When it comes to manning the job of railway track maintenance, Bangladesh Railway is poorly poised due to a massive shortage of manpower, according to railway statistics.
Under the railway’s east and west zones, there are 2,127 and 1,459 posts of wayman – a fourth-class designation meant for monitoring the tracks – respectively.
Of them, 540 posts are vacant in the east zone, while the west zone has only 940 waymen.
These numbers show why it is not possible to properly monitor the railway tracks across Bangladesh, an official working in Bangladesh Railway’s infrastructure wing said, requesting anonymity.
He could not say why or for how long these posts have been lying vacant.
In June this year, the government recruited 836 waymen, but they have yet to join.
A highly placed railway official, on condition of anonymity, said manpower crisis was hindering regular maintenance and repair services of the train tracks and bridges.
When asked how often the maintenance and repair works are done, he said: “The work continues round the year.”
According to railway authorities, a team comprising a third-class and a maximum of seven fourth-class employees are tasked with monitoring the train tracks and bridges in every railway station in Bangladesh.
Usually, they are tasked with covering 6km of tracks on average every day.
“But due to manpower shortage, it becomes an uphill task to do thorough surveillance on around 4,300km of railway tracks across the country,” he added.
More money needed?
Despite an significant increase in budget, some railway officials said the allocation for Bangladesh Railway was still not enough to cover maintenance expenses.
“We need an even bigger allocation to maintain the railway tracks, but the Ministry of Finance grants a small sum of money,” a finance official of Bangladesh Railway, requesting anonymity, said.
Asked about the recent bump up in budget allocation for the railway, he said even this increase is enough to run maintenance of the entire railway network, adding that if the government wanted, it could look into how the allocation is spent.

“The expected development in this sector will not come until a bigger budget is sanctioned – and on a regular basis,” he further said. Mahbub Kabir Milon, moderator of Facebook page named Bangladesh Railway Fans' Forum, alleged that a large sum of the budget is misappropriated.
“Can the railway authorities say when they last ran maintenance? Can they show the real documents of maintenance expenses?” Milon asked.

“I think locals and even public representatives of a certain area have little idea about the very last maintenance job and repair work,” he said, terming the use of bamboos a “shameful act.”

Experts’ take
Prof Md Mizanur Rahman, director of the Accident Research Institute under the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (Buet), said using bamboos on railway tracks was not technically logical.

“I have not worked in the sector, but from what I understand, using bamboos to keep sleepers in place, or pieces of wood on fishplates, is not allowed in ideal engineering practice,” he told Dhaka Tribune.

Seconding Mizanur’s statement, Hasib Mohammed Ahsan, civil engineering professor of Buet, who has been working in the railway sector for several years, said bamboos or wooden logs can only be used in case of emergency.

“This in no way falls under standard engineering practice… I doubt such a method is applied anywhere else in the world,” he added. Protests by netizens and passenger rights campaigners sparked after four people were killed and around 67 injured as an intercity train service named Upaban Express derailed at Baramchal in the Kulaura upazila, Moulvibazar on June 23.

Following the accident, several media outlets ran reports and published pictures showing bamboos and wooden logs being used on railway tracks and bridges.

In the wake of the protests and media reports, Bangladesh Railway, in late June, issued a statement in support of bamboo use, saying: “In order to keep sleepers from moving out of square and remain attached to each other, bamboo sticks or wooden logs has been used as an additional safety measure for decades.

“Bamboos or logs do not carry the load of trains. They stop sleepers from slipping off their slots. The bamboo sticks and timbers are not at all parts of the main structure of railway bridges, and they do not hamper the safety of the train service,” the statement added.

My dear @ALShill, please respond to this post. I thought there are many talented guys like you are in BD. But, this fellow is criticizing our talented people.

So, please answer him that even BD bamboo sticks are better than BD steel.
[/QUOTE]
You are sarcastic,right ?

Indians really aren't all that humble are they?....

Honestly do you really think Chinese would have responded to that quote like how Indians have responded

That's personifies the difference between the two countries,

What to do with being humble , it's deal between two countries , if it's fullfilled , then it doesn't matter ,is it ?

 

[TOTUU]

Yup , it's a joke that we offered you help here , but joke on whom ??

Obviously on Bangladeshi like you (who suck upon Chinese to look deveolpment friendly but end up paying more for similar projects ) , as they are yet so inefficient to build a railway line in such difficult terrain .

We have built several lines in North east , kashmir and other mountainous region ,so does on western ghats , if you would have asked for assistance earlier ,you would have modified whole of your railway , but nope . It will harm Bangladeshi pride

These red lines are the railroad projects built by China in Africa，Solid lines are those that have been constructed, and dashed lines are those that are under construction.
yellow lines are india (Project on hold)
Gray lines are Korea (Project on hold)

This is a high-speed railroad line in southwest China, we can clearly see the complexity of the terrain

This is the video of high speed rail in mountainous terrain

China's infrastructure construction experience and efficiency is okay

 

[FAmbMkBhadarkumar]

So basically chinese left the project in middle after signing contract and BD cant do anything.
Dont see any Bengali troll naach on cursing chinese like they do Indian on vaccines

 

[SUVdaddy]

These red lines are the railroad projects built by China in Africa，Solid lines are those that have been constructed, and dashed lines are those that are under construction.
yellow lines are india (Project on hold)
Gray lines are Korea (Project on hold)


View attachment 767052


This is a high-speed railroad line in southwest China, we can clearly see the complexity of the terrain

View attachment 767054




This is the video of high speed rail in mountainous terrain

China's infrastructure construction experience and efficiency is okay

It's quite good in their own country but many times cost escalate , and i meant with respect to Bangladeshi poster that they could have taken help of india earlier and learnt the know how .

China is doing contract construction there .

 

[TOTUU]

It's quite good in their own country but many times cost escalate , and i meant with respect to Bangladeshi poster that they could have taken help of india earlier and learnt the know how .

China is doing contract construction there .

India's industrial output of railroads and transportation is still quite high, surpassing that of Japan.


India's industrial output of railroads and transportation is still quite high, surpassing Japan. Low-cost railroads may be more competitive than China's.

 

[siegecrossbow]

The only joke I see here is India's foreign policy

If Bangladesh is ok with getting that railroad by 2055 by all means accept the Indian tender. If not it is better to wait for Japan or South Korea, or renegotiate with China.