Tuesday, October 9, 2012

Brief History of Bangladesh Railway

Bangladesh Railway, covering a length of 2791 route kilometers managed by 26349 regular staff, is Government-owned and government managed transpiration agency of the country.


Date
Description
15 November, 1862
Construction of 53.11 Km. of Broad gauge line between Darsana and Jagati of Kustia district by Eastern Bengal Railway.
01 January, 1871
Extension of Darsana – Jagati railway line up to Goalanda by Eastern Bengal Railway.
1874 – 1879
Construction of Meter Gauge railway line from Sara (near Paksey) to Chilahati, Parbatipur to Dinajpur and Parbatipur to Kaunia and construction of Broad Guage railway line from Damukdia (Opposite to Sara) to Poradaha.
1882 – 1884
Bengal Cengral Railway Company constructed Benapole to Khulna Broad Gauge railway line.
01 July, 1884
Government took over the Management of Eastern Bengal Railway.
04 January, 1885
Railway Meter Gauge connection between Dhaka and Narayangonj, a distance of 14.98 km. by Dhaka State Railway, which was later on merged with Eastern Bengal State Railway.
1885
Construction of Dhaka – Mymensingh railway section by Dhaka state Railway.
01 April, 1887
Eastern Bengal Railway was merged with Northern Bengal State Railway.
1891
Construction of the Assam – Bengal Railway taken up with British Government assistance but was later on taken over by Assam – Bengal Railway Company.
01 July, 1895
Opening of 149.89 km. Metre Gauge lines between Chittagong and Comilla and 50.89 km. Meter Gauge lines between Laksam and Chandpur by Assam Bengal Railway.
03 November, 1895
Chittagong to Chittagong port line was constructed.
1896
Construction of Meter Gauge line from Comilla to Akhaura and Akhaura to Karimgonj.
1897
Single line section between Darsana and Poradaha converted into double line section.
1898 – 1899
Meter Gauge railway line constructed between Santahar Jn. to Fulchhari by Brahmaputra – Sultanpur Railway Company.
1903
Laksam – Noakhali section constructed by Noakhali (Bengal) Railway Company.
01 April, 1904
Bengal Central Railway Company and Brahmaputra – Sultanpur Railway Company taken over by Govt. managed Eastern Bengal Railway.
1905
Opening of Kaunia – Bonarpara Meter Gauge section. Government purchased the Noakhali (Bengal) Railway company.
01 January, 1996
Noakhali (Bengal) Railway Company merged with Assam Bengal Railway.
1909
Poradaha – Bhairamara single line converted into double line.
1910 – 1914
Akhaura – Tongi section opened, Conversion of Shakole to Santahar Meter Gauge section into Broad Gauge.
1912 – 1915
Kulaura – Sylhet section opened.
01 January, 1915
Hardinge Railway Bridge was opened over the river Padma at Paksey.
1915 – 1916
Sara – Sirajgonj line constructed by Sara – Sirajgonj Railway Company.
1916
Bhariamara – Raita Broad Gauge section opened.
1912 – 1918
Gouripur – Mymensingh – Netrokona and Shamgonj – Jharia – Janjail section constructed by Mymensingh – Bhairab Bazar Railway Company.
1915 – 1932
Bhairamara – Ishurdi – Abdulpur single line section converted into double line.
10 June, 1918
Rupsha – Bagerhat Narrow Gauge section constructed by a Branch line Company.
July, 1924
Conversion of Santahar – Parbatipur Meter Gauge section into Broad Gauge.
September, 1926
Conversion of Parbatipur – Chilahati Meter Gauge section into Broad Gauge.
1928
Opening of Shaistagonj – Hobigonj Section.
1928 – 1929
Tista – Kurigram Narrow Gauge section converted into Broad Gauge.
1929
Shaistagonj – Bella and Chittagong – Hathazari sections opened.
1930
Hathajari – Nazirhat Meter Gauge and Abdulpur – Amnura Broad Gauge sections opened.
1931
Sholashahar – Dohazari Section opened.
06 December, 1937
Opening of King VI George Bridge connecting Bhairab Bazar and Ashugonj over the river Meghna.
1941
Jamalpur – Bahadurabad Meter Gauge section opened.
01 January, 1942
Assam – Bengal Railway taken over by Government and amalgamated with the Eastern Bengal Railway under the name “Bengal and Assam Railway”.
01 October, 1944
Government took over Sara – Sirajgonj Railway company.
1947
Bengal and Assam Railway was spilt up and the portion within the boundary of erstwhile East Pakistan was named as “Eastern Bengal Railway” the control remaining with Central Government of Pakistan.
1948 – 1949
Government takes over Mymensingh – Bhairab Bazar Railway company.
21 April, 1951
Jessore – Darsana Railway line opened to traffic.
01 October, 1954
Sylhet to Chatak Bazar railway line opened to traffic.
01 February, 1961
Eastern Bengal Railway renamed as Pakistan Eastern Railway.
1962
A Railway Board was formed and management of Railway was placed under the Provincial Government.
1972
Pakistan Eastern Railway was renamed as Bangladesh Railway after emergence of Bangladesh sovereign state continued to function under a Railway Board.
03 June, 1982
The Railway Board was abolished and its function was placed under the control of Railway Division of Ministry of Communication with Secretary of the Division being Director General. For administrative convenience and operational reasons, Bangladesh Railway was bifurcated into two zones, East and West zone, headed by two General Manager.
12 August, 1995
Bangladesh Railway Authority (BRA) was formed comprising 9 members with Honorable Minister for Ministry of Communications as Chairman, for giving policy guidance of Bangladesh Railway.
23 June, 1998
East – West Railway connectivity over the mighty river Jamuna was established from the day one, the day of formal opening of Jamuna Multipurpose Bridge, after completion construction of Broad Gauge track from Jamtoil to Ibrahimabad.
14 August, 2003
Direct BG Train Communication between Dhaka (JOYdebpur) and Rajshahi over Jamuna Multipurpose Bridge was established by introducing first Intercity passenger Train after completion of construction of new Dual Gauge (DG) track from Ibrahimabad to Joydebpur.
07 March, 2004
Direct MG train communication between Dhaka and Lalmonirhat was established.
09 November, 2007
Bangladesh has signed the intergovernmental agreement on the Trans Asian Railways (TAR) network as 20th signatory.
14 April, 2008
Direct Communication between Dhaka & Kolkata was established by introducing “Maitree Express” Train.
04 March, 2010
Introduction of ticket selling through mobile phone.
04 December, 2011
Ministry of Railways formed by the Honorable Prime Minister uinder SRO-361-Rules of Business 1996 Rule-3.