As South Asian countries enter the era of railway electrification, Bangladesh has finally achieved its own zero breakthrough. The Bangladesh Railway Department recently submitted a historic development project proposal to the Planning Commission, proposing to electrify the Narayanganj to Choydpur section of the railway and purchase 16 electric multiple units. This project, with a total investment of approximately 347 million US dollars, will become Bangladesh's first railway electrification project, marking the country's railway system officially bidding farewell to internal combustion traction and entering the era of electric traction.

The first electrified railway project

The project plans to electrify a 52.32 kilometer corridor, involving the installation of overhead contact network systems, construction of traction substations and central control systems, as well as land acquisition, procurement of 16 electric multiple units, and a 5-year maintenance service. The overall project period is from July 2026 to June 2036, including a construction period of approximately 4 years and subsequent maintenance phases. At present, the project has been reviewed by the Project Evaluation Committee of the Bangladesh Planning Commission, and it is recommended to proceed on the premise of optimizing the land acquisition scale and compressing the implementation cycle.

ADB European Investment Bank Joint Financing

In terms of financing, the Asian Development Bank and the European Investment Bank are expected to provide approximately 28.31 billion taka in loans, with the remaining 14.52 billion taka to be self financed by the Bangladeshi government. From the perspective of investment structure, the construction of overhead contact lines and power supply systems requires approximately 8.35 billion taka, the procurement of 16 electric multiple units is approximately 19.57 billion taka, and the construction of electric multiple unit maintenance workshops is approximately 6.87 billion taka. The specific details regarding interest rates and repayment terms will be determined after negotiations. Keywords: the Belt and Road News Network, EMU

Dual harvest of economy and environmental protection

The financial calculation of the project proposal shows that the project has strong profitability, with an expected annual revenue of about 8.49 billion taka by 2030, far exceeding the operating cost of about 790 million taka. After the completion of the project, it is expected to significantly improve the railway transportation efficiency of the densely populated corridor from Dhaka to Narayanganj to Gazipur, shorten travel time by about 18%, reduce operation and maintenance costs by about 35%, and effectively reduce carbon emissions. According to the previous feasibility study, Bangladesh plans to advance railway electrification in stages, which will extend eastward to Chittagong in the future.Editor/Gao Xue