Md. Mizanur Rahman, Chief Mechanicl Engineer (East)
Bangladesh Railway

Railway is one of the major modes of transport in Bangladesh. It provides comfortable, cheaper, environment friendly and above all safe service to the people of this country. The importance of railway in the field of communication becomes more conspicuous in crisis periods like flood, storm and in times of Eid rush or other occasional rush of passenger as well. Railway as an organization was running with full vigor for more than a hundred years since its inception in 1862. However, some organizational transformation which was taken under the veneer of ‘Reform Program’ over the period early eighties to mid nineties wreaked a great harm to the organization instead of yielding any fruitful improvement and turned the organization into a decaying condition.

So, Bangladesh Railway was crippling and grappling for its way to survive. The first opportunity for Bangladesh Railway to turn around came in 1996, thanks to the erstwhile Honorable Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, when her government had taken the historic decision of including rail line in the Bango Bondhu Jamuna Bridge. Since then Railway started recuperating from the abyss of divesture and destruction. This condescending attitude of her government continued and culminated into creating a seperate ministry for Bangladesh Railway in 2011 to catapult the organization into a stratum capable of mitigating the demand and expectation of the ever growing populace of the country.

The development trend of the day which is the hallmark of this government has also taken Bangladesh Railway under its umbrella. Many important projects have been taken to build a better railway system for Bangladesh – so, why not workshop modernization projects are to be taken?

In fact Bangladesh Railway is operated by its own 13 departments in a coordinated manner. Mechanical department is one of the major departments of Bangladesh Railway that maintains and operates rolling stocks (viz- Locomotive, Carriage & Wagon) through its six workshops and required number of Locosheds and Carriage depots dotted across the railway network. Heavy repair and maintenance are conducted in workshops while lighter repair and maintenance are conducted in Locosheds and Carriage depots.

Before going to the main discourse we need to highlight the brief identity and present status of the existing six workshops of Bangladesh Railway which are delineated below:

A) Pahartalli Carriage & Wagon Repair Workshop: It is one of the important establishments of eastern zone. It was built in 1947 on an area of 35 acres. It has 22 subshops. It maintains and repairs meter gauge 908 Carriages and 3000 wagons of eastern zone. No, major repair of shop infrastructure was done since it was built. So, most of the equipment and plants have expired their economic life way back. However, modernization of the workshop with limited scope has been initiated very recently.

View of Pahartalli workshop modernization of BR.

B) Saidpur Carriage and Wagon Workshop: It is the largest workshop of Bangladesh Railway that maintains and repairs all the carriages and wagons (both meter gauge and broad gauge) of western zone. It was established in 1870 on an area of 111 acres. Nature of activities of this shop have been changed in some stages of its life. At the beginning it was used to maintain steam locomotives. But when steam locomotives were phased out, it was used to maintain meter gauge carriages and then in 1926 both broad gauge carriages and wagons. Like Pahartali Workshop this workshop also was modernized with limited scope over the period 2009 to 2014.

C) Central Locomotive Workshop, Parbatipur: This workshop was built in 1992 to general overhaul the broad gauge and meter gauge locomotives of Bangladesh Railway. This is the most modern workshop of Bangladesh Railway. It was built in a planned way and serving the purpose of heavy repair of locomotive. Yet the capacity of the workshop needs to be enhanced to cater the increased fleet size of rolling stock.

D) Pahartali Diesel Workshop: It was built in 1958 on an area of 21 acres land. Medium heavy maintenance work of 51 locomotives is conducted in this workshop. No modernization or major repair of shop infrastructure was done since it was built. Most of the machinery plants and equipment have turned dilapidated. The workshop cannot fully serve the demand of locomotive maintenance.

E) Dhaka Diesel Workshop: This workshop was built in 1976 on an area of 7.18 acres. The activities of the workshop are same as that of Pahartali Diesel Workshop. The equipment and machinery of this workshop have also turned dilapidated. So, the workshop is incapable of serving the growing demand of locomotive maintenance.

F) Parbatipur Diesel Workshop: This workshop was built in 1931 on an area of 13.16 acres. Initially it was a diesel shed. In 1981 the workshop was refurnished to conduct medium heavy preventive and break down maintenance of 92 broad gauge locomotives. No infrastructural modernization has yet been undertaken. So the condition of this workshop is far from being the exception.

If we analyze the background of the existing workshops, we find that all of them except Central Locomotive Workshop were built in a make shift manner as per the requirement of that particular time. Only Central Locomotive Workshop was built in a planned way. So, the infrastructures of those shops were not so well equipped or well planned. Working facilities were developed on need basis. Because the objectives and nature of maintenance works had been deviated from the original stage with the passage of time. Since rolling stocks with modern technology and amenities are being added to the existing fleet for quite sometime now.

So, modern working facilities viz installation of modern machinery, equipment and other infrastructural support are required. We have to think that once upon a time woodenbody carriages were used. Now we are using stainless steel carriages having different types of modern bogie. Also, vacuum brake system of rolling stock is being replaced by air brake system. In case of locomotive, digital electronic devices are being provided instead of previous electrical devices. So, modern working facilities and the testing facilities for these newer version of rolling stocks are to be introduced in our workshops. Besides, the growing fleet size of rolling stock due to the requirement of the ever growing populace of the country demands capacity enhancement of every workshop. Moreover, we all know that environment is a great concern of the present time. This issue was not envisaged in prior times. So, no ETP was installed in our workshops. Also, sewerage management was not seriously considered at the time of building those workshop, so there was no well planned drainage system inside the workshops. Fire protection facilities were insufficient or insome cases almost nonexistent. These are the main concerns of the present day establishment which need to be introduce in workshop premises.

So, if we want to take into account the above considerations, we will have to modernize the existing workshops. This will help improve the overall capacity and working environment of the workshops. The workshops will be capable of keeping the preventive maintenance up to date. So, reliable rolling stock will be provided in operation, which will ensure safe, comfortable and expected service to the people of Bangladesh.