DHAKA, Sept. 28 (Xinhua) -- The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Bangladeshi government have signed a 200 million U.S. dollars loan agreement for new train carriages, locomotives and other equipment for Bangladesh's rail network.
Saifuddin Ahmed, joint secretary of Bangladesh's Economic Relations Division, and Yoshinobu Tatewaki, officer-in-charge of Bangladesh Resident Mission of ADB, signed the agreement on behalf of their respective sides in capital Dhaka on Wednesday.
"The additional locomotives and passenger carriages will enable Bangladesh Railway to satisfy steadily growing demand for safe, affordable and energy efficient rail transport," said Yoshinobu Tatewaki.
"This assistance will help to build up the fleet capacity and operate additional trains on key rail corridors like Dhaka-Chittagong and Dhaka-Khulna, where infrastructure improvements such as double-tracking and modernization of signaling are ongoing."
According to an ADB statement, the assistance under the Railway Rolling Stock Project, supported by further funds from the Government of Bangladesh, will finance about 250 passenger carriages, 10 locomotives, and state-of-the- art maintenance equipment. It will also provide training facilities for train drivers.
The project aims to increasing the number of train passengers by at least 10% by 2021, said the statement.
According to ADB, it will also support the Bangladesh government's goal of increasing Bangladesh Railway's transport market share from 4 percent to 10 percent for passengers. Upgrading capacity along key transport corridors has become increasingly urgent, as the current high demand for intercity rail services is not being met, it said.
