Railway hikes fare, service remains woeful

News Report Bangladesh Railway (BR) authorities will raise the passenger fare by 9 per cent from February 1 next to boost the income of the BR to meet the increased operating cost. The enhanced fare will increase the railway income by only Taka 45 crore annually while the annual loss of Bangladesh railway is taka 900 crore. The proposal to hike the fare will not improve the services of railway in any way. Rather it will increase the burden on the commuters who are mostly from lower income group. Railway is the cheapest mode of public transportation. Mostly the lower income group people travel by train because the bus fare is higher and waterways are shrinking gradually. In this context, the new proposal to raise the railway fare will only add to the sufferings of the passengers. The passengers are already suffering in the rail journey due to woeful services. The compartments are dirty and in most of the compartments there is no toilet and light. The seats are torn and the inside of the compartments are dirty. The seats are mostly broken and passengers most of the time remain standing for the long journey. The railway administration is unable to maintain the minimum standard of services not to speak of improving those. The corrupt ticket supervisors hardly check tickets and most of the passengers travel without ticket or by bribing the ticket checkers. Corruption is one of the major ailments of Bangladesh railway. There are 339 trains operating in the east and west zone. Some of these trains are broad gaudge. The rail lines are old and dilapidated in many of the areas and many old lines are now closed. There are more than 100 railway stations that are inoperative due to shortage of manpower. The signaling system is faulty and lines are old that causes frequent accident. Derailment of the compartments is a common problem that disrupts the movement of trains. The shortage of locomotives delays the train movement. Railway remains the most important mode of transport for carrying cargo especially the containers from the port to the other parts and from those places to the port. The better railway services could move the cargo speedily and at a cheaper cost. But the inefficient services are slowing down movement of goods and services by the Bangladesh railway. Even then the passengers and the businesses will have to pay higher fare and freight from February 1. This money will be paid to service the bill for inefficiency and corruption.