Railway Communication - Is It A Solution?

Railway Communication 1
Railway Communication
Is It a Solution?

Anila Hoque
English 105, Section
Lecturer Rafia Tahseen
December 25
th
, 2012


Acknowledgement
I take this opportunity to express my gratitude to the people who have been
instrumental in the successful completion of this research project. My sincere thanks to
those people who have spent their valuable time and extended their support in
completing my research exercise. They have helped me to solve the problems and
answer the questions. I would like to pay my special gratitude to the Social and Social
Development and Gender Specialist of Irrigation Management Improvement Investment
Program (IMIIP), Ms. Taj Peara Begum, for her immense support and valuable time in
completing my queries. My special thanks to them from the core of my heart who have
given me valuable time in fulfilling my queries with great concern. In this connection, I
would like to thank my honorable course instructor Ms Rafia Tahsin, who has given
guidance and such an opportunity to solve each and every little problem with enormous
apprehension. And lastly, I would like to thank my family members and friends for their
view points which helped me to clear my queries; who were equally cooperative in
completing my project immaculately and making it an effective one. Without the support
and cooperation from all theses corners it would not have been possible to complete
this research work.


Abstract
In the past and recent years, Dhaka, the capital city and hub of Bangladesh is
facing one of the strenuous and troublesome problems, TRAFFIC CONGESTIONS.
One of the prevalent initiatives has been taken by the government to lessen the
congestion which is building flyovers around the city but, somehow, this specific
measure has been unable to lessen the problem. Hence, I introduced my topic Railway
Communication which I think might be a solution to lessen the traffic jam in Dhaka city.
According to the past observations, railway services have been almost abandoned by
the government. A lot of investment has been on the road infrastructure but as the
population is increasing dramatically day by day, improvement of road infrastructure
could not be much of a solution to the people rather has created lot of hurdles. I think
investment behind railway sector is less than investment in road sector. I think its time
to raise demand for the railway sector by taking different measures with proper
planning, collaboration by the public-private partnerships and with proper
implementation and monitoring. Focusing on this will not only reduce traffic congestion
but also reduce air pollution, sound pollution, road accidents thus, improve the
economic growth of the country as a whole.

Table of Contents:

1. Introduction......................................................................................4

2. Background......................................................................................6

3. Research Questions........................................................................7

4. Research Methodology...................................................................8

5. Hypothesis.......................................................................................9

6. Frequency of One Way Travel per Day........................................10

7. General Travel Destination............................................................11

8. Mode of Transport..........................................................................12

9. Hours Sent Each Day to Travel One Day......................................13

10. Perception about the Current Traffic Jam in Dhaka City..........14

11. Effects in Social and Economic Life ..........................................15

12. Reasons for Congestion in Dhaka City......................................16

13. Mechanism to Mitigate Traffic Jam.............................................19

14. Sector Referred to the Government to Invest More..................21

15. Opinion about the Railway Communication Service................25

16. Shortcomings of Existing Railway.............................................26

17. Support for Government Investment.........................................28

18. Use Despite Increase in Fare for the New Service...................29

19. Summary of Research Findings.................................................30

20. Recommendations/Suggestions................................................30

21. Conclusion...................................................................................31

22. Bibliography..................................................................................33


Introduction
Dhaka city, the most densely populated city in Bangladesh is going through one
of the major hectic and frenzied situations, traffic jam. Travelers are extremely suffering
from this everyday and are being affected at a great amount. This adversely impact their
economic, social and health point of view. The people/travelers here are not only being
the sufferer, the country as a whole is losing economic value. Many short-term and
long-term initiatives have been taken to minimize this problem. Construction of road
infrastructure and flyover had been able to reduce the traffic jam insignificantly. But the
problem still remained there. The indifferent behavior of the traffic police, the insolent
vehicle operators and the pedestrians, they all are the same. Hence, I feel that the
government should invest in the railway sector which is far more beneficial than any
other transport modes. Our neighboring country, India has already introduced rail
services in Delhi, and plans to develop further by investing Rs .2million crore. The Delhi
Metro Rail has been executed in a short span of time and made it operational at a
length of 138 km-long Metro network in and around the capital by Delhi Metro Rail
Corporation (DMRC) (Delhi Metro, India, n.d.). If a developing country like India can
make such improvement with a huge investment then why a country like Bangladesh
cant? A journalist Kibria (2010) mentioned that there is high demand for railway service
in Bangladesh. That means people want to get the service and are ready to pay for it.
But there is a huge shortage of supply in this service. Thus, supply-demand gap is at
peak (Business section, para.4-7). Railway has certain benefits over other mode of
transport, stated by Saidur (2005) which are:

1. The construction of the vital link is essential for the reason to increase the
transportation potentials to obtain maximum profit.
2. BR will be able to improve its operating performance and thus will be more
competitive compared to other modes of transportation.
3. A new area will be opened for railway traffic and for reduction in travel time, more
traffic will be attracted by the structural reorientation and thus BR will be able to
increase its revenue.
4. Transportation projects generally result in travel time saving, which are enjoyed by
passengers, crew of vehicles, vehicle operations and consigners of commodities. The
proposed direct links will significantly reduce the rail distance between important
sections and reduce the travel time.
5. Apart from saving in travel time, there will be significant reductions in the vehicle
operating costs as well.
6. Enhancement of regional rail traffic will increase the revenue of BR.
7. The construction of the vital link is essential for the reason to increase the
transportation potentials to obtain maximum profit. (pp. 54-55).
Although the government have devoted most of its efforts to develop the road
sector and, some changes become visible for the last few years, the government is yet
to shift from road-based transport and communication strategy to devote on railway
service. This is where my research project is generally based on.


Background
Dhaka, the capital city of Bangladesh, is the largest and most industrialized city
in a nation of some 135 million people. Dhaka is the administrative, commercial, and
cultural centre of the country and also continues to serve as the traditional centre of
wholesale trade. The population of the greater Dhaka area is presently estimated to be
19.2 million people (2004), a number that is expected to be more than double by 2024.
Bangladesh has taken enormous steps to develop a modern transport system to
support the needs of a developing economy. Most of the improvement has happened in
the roads, followed by the ports and civil aviation while the railway services have been
neglected. Without much spending on infrastructure and rolling stock, rail services
deteriorated and its market share declined. The main challenges result from insufficient
allocation of resources, poor planning, inadequate policies and influence of political
agendas. Road transport falls short on quality and safety: Notwithstanding, the massive
expansion of the transport infrastructure since independence, albeit mostly in the road
sector, the services provided to users have not kept up with the demand in terms of
quality and safety. The quality of the road network is poor, as roads surface is often too
narrow for the traffic movement, illegal vehicle parking, and illegal occupancy by
vendors. Congestion, overloading, air pollution, and safety are major problems in
Bangladeshs transport sector. Delays in travelling in Dhaka city and highway corridors,
as well as congestion in the Chittagong Port, continue to be major concerns for
commuters. Few roads have been under-maintained. Although the extended network
has provided great benefit to the society by facilitating movement of commuters and
goods and providing critical access to previously isolated population, the long-term

sustainability of the road network is at risk. Appropriate institutional arrangements
and sustainable financing mechanisms are not yet in place. As a result, only about 40
percent of the main roads (the National and Regional highways and the Zila roads) are
in good condition, and the rural roads are in about the same state. Therefore, the
proposed research intends to reduce traffic congestions through improvement of rail
services.
World Bank stated that The road network expanded to an impressive 271,000
km, most of which were built after independence in 1971. Bangladesh has developed
major road corridors connecting Dhaka with key economic centers and towns, and a
network of village roads connecting communities to market centers and the main roads.
New bridges connect communities with road transport and integrate whole regions,
including the Jamuna Bridge that combines roadways, a rail track and a natural gas
pipeline, providing uninterrupted eastwest road and rail connection for the first time. The
rail track infrastructure remained largely as it was in 1947, with the exception of the
dual-gauge rail link on the Jamuna Bridge (Bangladesh Transport Policy Note, 2009, p.
3, para. 2).
RESEARCH QUESTIONS
The scope of my research work investigated the perception of the sampled
respondents regarding the traffic congestion in Dhaka city and pros and cons of railway
services/communication in reducing traffic jam in Dhaka city by administering the
following questions:
What are the impacts of railway services?

How the other transportation services affect the people?
What are the challenges of railway services?
How traffic congestion can be mitigated through railway?
What are the peoples perceptions regarding the railway and other communication
services?

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
For my primary research, a sampling frame has been prepared for a number of
25 respondents from four different groups illustrated below. Later, I have prepared a
questionnaire in compliance with my research terms of reference (ToR) so as to get a
range of useful data to meet the demand of the research project. The ratio of sample
was equal in terms of gender. Of the 25 respondents, students represented 84%, call
center agent, teacher, service holder, and marketing executives represented 4% each.
The average household income ranged from BDT 0-19,999 were 37.50%; 0% ranged
between BDT 20,000-39,999; 12.50% respondents average household income is BDT
40,000-69,999; and 50% had an BDT 70,000 and above.
For my secondary research I have used the resources of the library and the web
books and articles, standard references sources and databases, government
documents, personal interview, media and academic web-sites, etc. These sources
helped me to provide tables and graphs for my research project.


HYPOTHESIS
According to the past observations, railway services have been almost
abandoned by the government. A lot of investment has been on the road infrastructure
but as the population is increasing day by day and the road infrastructure being
improved it could not be much of a solution to the people rather has created lot of
hurdles. I believe investment behind railway sector is less than investment in road
sector. I think its time to raise demand for the railway sector by taking different
measures with proper planning, collaboration by the public-private partnership and with
proper implementation and monitoring plan. Focusing on this will not only reduce traffic
congestion but also reduce air pollution, sound pollution, road accidents thus, improve
the economic growth of the country as a whole.


Frequency of One Way Travel per Day

From the above bar graph illustrate the frequency when asked to the
respondents about their one way frequency of travel per day maximum respondents of
41.7% had to travel once, followed by 33.30% who had to travel twice. Surprisingly the
percentage of respondents who had to travel thrice (4.20%) was less compared to the
ones who had to travel more than thrice. The highest frequency of respondents who had
to travel one way belonged to the university goers.

0.00% 10.00% 20.00% 30.00% 40.00% 50.00%
Once
Twice
Thrice
More Than Thrice
One Way Travel
Once Twice Thrice More Than Thrice
Figure: 1

General Travel Destination

The above graph shows the general travel destination of the following
respondents. The x-axis represents the general travel destination and the y-axis
represents the number of respondents in accordance to their destination. The highest
number of respondents fell into the university category followed by shopping mall and
relative and/or friends place. The interviewees had several other destination(s) which
includes grocery shops, business firms and tuition place.

0
5
10
15
20
25
22
5
0
4 4
3
Figure: 2

Mode of Transport

The pie chart shows the mode of transport availed by the interviewees to their
destinations per day. The red color represents the car, the green represents the
rickshaw, the brown represents bus while blue for other transports mentioned by the
respondents like cycle and none availed the train or the motorcycle. When asked to the
respondents why they preferred rickshaws over cars, maximum (12) replied that it was
one of the easiest and convenient modes to reach their destination on time using sub-
roads instead of main roads despite of high fares in terms of longer destinations. To
them travelling by bus or car seemed more strenuous and time consuming. The highest
number of respondents referred cars (14); 11 preferred bus and 2 preferred other mode
of transport, cycle.
Figure 3

Hours Spent Each Day to Travel One Way

My next survey question was based on the hours spent each day to one way
travel. The horizontal axis stands for the number of people travelling and the vertical
axis represents the hours spent. The above bar diagram shows that highest number of
people travelling is 50% for whom it takes 1 hour to less than 2 hours to reach their
destination. Around 33.30% are travelling between 2 hours to less than 3 hours followed
by 16.70% traveling 1 hour to less than 2 hours. The respondents, whose abodes were
only 15 minutes away from their destination, had to wait in the traffic congestion for
longer hour(s). According to the respondents, they believed that the number of hours
would keep on increasing if any other measures arent taken as soon as possible. A
staff of etc., a bus plying the Pallabi-Gulistan route, said it took four hours and a half to
0.00% 10.00% 20.00% 30.00% 40.00% 50.00%
Less than 1 hour
1 hour to less than 2 hours
2 hours to less than 3 hours
3 hours and more
Less than 1
hour
1 hour to less
than 2 hours
2 hours to less
than 3 hours
3 hours and
more
Hours Sent Each Day To Travel
One Day
16.70% 50.00% 33.30% 0%
Figure 4

each Gulistan from Pallabi yesterday afternoon, which usually took around one hour (as
cited in Metropolitan section, The Daily Star, 2012, para. 3).

Perception about the Current Traffic Jam in Dhaka City
This was an open ended question asked to the respondents and various answers
were found from each respondent. One of the very common responses was that it
squanders a lot of their valuable time. This has led them to suffer daily in their routine
work. Its creating havoc in their life and they believe that as the traffic jam is increasing
day by day in the Dhaka city, it would keep on increasing more. It has made their life
difficult and is becoming almost impossible to cope with it every day. A lot of productive
time is being squandered which they deemed could have been utilized in some other
activities. Its becoming an impossible place to live in and might become further after
few years if any measure isnt taken immediately. The respondents mentioned that not
only they are being the only victims of it but also the rickshaw-pullers, drivers, and
pedestrians are also being the victims. Few mentioned that it is not only affecting them
but also the economy of the country. According to Mahmud, Gope and Chowdhury
(2012), 1.30 hours are lost out of 2.35 hours, in traffic, journey made by an average
population. 1.30 person hour of resource are lost every day (pg.). It means it takes more
than double transportation time that people are losing 55% of their traffic hour during
staying in the traffic. They can convert this time into valuable work that might add
something to our economy. Similarly, those who are vehicle operator they are also
losing a lot of time due to traffic jam. They are losing almost three hours due to traffic

jams. On an average their daily working hour is slightly over 12 hours. It means
they are losing almost 25% of their working hour (p. 117).

Effects in Social and Economic Life
As per my survey, the major issues mentioned by the respondents were in the
health sector. Due to long hours of waiting maximum respondents were suffering from
breathing problem, headache, mental stress, poor hearing, unexpected perspiration,
eye problems, mental stress, fever, suffocation and tiredness. Excessive exhaustion of
smoke from numerous vehicles is one of the reasons for breathing problem; continuous
honking or 1 honk in every 10-15 seconds causes the passengers suffer from hearing
problem and even might lead them to suffer from a permanent hearing loss. Many
respondents fail to attend their classes and many of them fail to report their office on
time at least 2-3 times a week which makes them put up with mental stress and
deduction of their regular salary. Even after reporting on time, it takes time to
concentrate on their work which is due to tiredness. By a reason of staying in the traffic,
people sometime suffer from excessive sweating. As in the traffic there is smoke
everywhere, the situation gets hotter. Some people who cannot bear hot, they start
sweating heavily. And this heavy sweating some time causes heart attack. Apart from
the health issues there have been other effect too which includes setting out early to
reach their destination on time. Besides, some of the interviewees even mentioned that
they are too afraid as well as discouraged to go out for maintaining their social life just
because they have to encounter traffic jam right after stepping out from house. In
addition, this often makes the people reluctant as well as lazy to work and study further

at their abode. On top, this traffic congestion increases transportation cost such
as high bus fares, rickshaw fares, taxi fares, etc; high vehicle operating cost more
traffic jam would lead to frequent push in brakes and accelerator, so, the life time of
those will be less; and lastly more fuel consumption. If there were less traffic congestion
then the costs mentioned above would have been lower. One of the respondents
pointed out that in a week a person wastes three days a month in traffic jam. Hence, it
can be seen that a year 156 days are wasted in traffic jam. The passengers are not only
the sufferers but the vehicle operators are the victims too.

Reasons for Congestion in Dhaka City

0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
N
u
m
b
e
r

o
f

R
e
s
p
o
n
d
e
n
t
s

Figure 5

The above figure is a bar diagram where the x-axis represents the reasons of
traffic jam and the y-axis representing the number of respondents believe the reasons
for traffic jam. Based on the graph 17 people responded that the reason behind the
traffic congestion has been mainly due to improper traffic management and more
vehicles compared to the road surface. Most important problem that I have found from
the survey is people are not abiding by law, they do not want to follow traffic rules. This
does not only include the vehicle operators only, it also comprises the traffic police,
hawkers and the pedestrians too. The bus drivers pull over in the middle of the road to
board in and board out the passengers at their will. Drivers neither try to maintain the
speed nor follow the lane. In most cases, as the punishment is nominal, they tend to
breach the rules again and again. The traffic rule violation has been one of the major
reasons for traffic jam. Furthermore, there is no electric traffic signal in Dhaka city for
the past 7-10 years. Thus, the signal is given or done by the traffic police manually at
their will. Moreover, there has been an ample increase in the vehicles compared to
roads. Our traffic management system is not automated and well-equipped. All the
junctions are not facilitated with signal lights. Where there are lights, most often those
remain out of order.
The increase in vehicles especially in the private car has been one of the many
reasons. As in one private car there are only 2/3 people but the car is taking a lots of
space. Its often seen that a family between 3-5 members has more than 2 cars. This
takes up a lot of space in the road. There has been an immense increase in the
rickshaws too. Their structure and moving capability is also responsible for the traffic
congestion.

Out of 25 respondents 13 agreed that an increase in number of population in
Dhaka has been a factor of escalated traffic jam. This huge population needs to
transport from one place to another. As a result enormous traffic load is very common.
People from different rural areas come to this urban city in hope of jobs, better
education, better health facility, etc. Different inhabitants from different districts and
divisions enter the hub for to authorize various paper works to incept a business.
17 respondents said there is no proper parking lot in Dhaka city. Lack of proper
law implementation is also encouraging illegal parking. On the other hand pedestrians
show less interest to use footpath, foot-over-bridge or under-pass, thus creating risk for
the vehicle operators. At times the pedestrians cant be even blamed if the footpath is
filled or submerged with stench water, garbage and occupied by the hawkers. Footpath
occupied by hawkers makes other people walk by the road, which is blocks the space
for vehicles and causing traffic jams. This is a very common scenario in Dhaka city. For
a standard city, where the minimum road requirement is 25%, Dhaka has only 7.5%
road of its total area 30% of this 7.5% road is also occupied by the hawkers, salesman
and shopkeepers. A significant portion is occupied by construction materials and waste-
containers of the City Corporation.
1 out of 25 respondents assumed that non-coordination among inter-agency and
railway between the roads have caused a rise in traffic jam. Every month the roads are
cut to maintain the sewage line, telephone line and of course the construction of roads
and fly-over. Improper management and supervision of such maintenance and
construction leads to jam. The railway line between the roads apparently has been one

of the trivial reasons too. Many vehicles are stopped 15-20 minutes before the train
appears and these long hours of waiting leads this problem too.

Mechanism to Mitigate Traffic Jam

The illustration illustrates the mechanism to mitigate traffic jam represented in the
vertical axis y and the number of respondents in the horizontal axis x. Surprisingly,
among all the other measures half of the respondents, 13, supported to improve the
railway communication. This shows their interest in availing this sector and support for
railway communication. On the other hand 12 believed that there should be strict
maintenance of laws starting from pedestrians to traffic sergeants. If all types of vehicle
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14
Decentralization of Government
Departments
Increased Roads
Improvement of Railway
Decentralization of Institutions
Reduction of private cars
Strict maintenance of laws
Other*
Figure 6

drivers follow the traffic rules properly then it can surely decrease the load on the road
and improve the current scenario. If the citizens abide by laws then this would lessen the
problem faced by the population in Dhaka city. Adequate parking facilities should be
made available in Dhaka city. 25 percent place should be for the movement and parking
of vehicles in a city whereas Dhaka city has only 7 percent such place invoking a
natural cause for being traffic jam. It is very practical that the city does not have
sufficient place for allowing the vehicles freely. Unauthorized parking should be banned
all over the city.12 suggested an increase in the number of roads in the Dhaka city. As
stated earlier, a cities minimum road requirement is 25%, this percentage can be
achieved if the BRTC, DCC and Rajuk comes ahead to considers to provide this
solution for better survival in the Dhaka city.
About 9 respondents suggest to decentralize the government departments is one
of the solutions. As stated earlier numerous people from various divisions enter the city
for the authorization of their documents to incept a business. Hence, if the departments
are decentralized and/or delegated to other sectors it would create less pressure to the
hub of and might save the citizens from such hindrance. In addition decentralization of
schools, colleges, universities and industries would be beneficial to the citizens. To the
interviews, this is one of the solutions. As mentioned above citizens from different zones
come for better education, health care facilities, jobs, etc. if the schools, colleges,
universities, hospitals and industries are decentralized to other divisions and districts
people from those areas would not have to take the trouble of coming to the hub. Sitting
from their respective house, they can avail these facilities.

Others believed that constructing fly-over and using cycle might mitigate the
solution too. Students can ride cycles to come to their institutes instead of bus, cars,
etc. and save themselves from lot of agony from being a victim of jam.

Sector Referred to the Government to Invest More

The above bar graph shows the sectors referred to the government to invest
more by the respondents. This is a bar diagram x-axis representing the sectors and the
y-axis representing the number of respondent supporting the sectors. 9 supported more
investment in the road sector. In a country as crowded and as poor as Bangladesh,
walking, animal-drawn vehicles and public transport have a central role to play in giving
people access to jobs, markets and essential services such as schools and health care
centers. The private sector is well able to provide bus services without requiring
subsidy, but needs a minimum of regulation regarding safety. In the cities travel is slow,
19.00 19.00
5
0
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
20
Road Railway Waterway Airway
Road Railway Waterway Airway
Figure 7

unsafe and polluted because of the lack of street space and the mixing of pedestrians,
non-motorized vehicles (mainly rickshaws) and motorized vehicles in the same limited
space. The lack of street space is especially acute in Dhaka, where roads occupy only 8
percent of the citys area. But expanding road space requires the clearing of occupied
land and so is clearly at best a long-term solution. For the medium term, policies
recommended to the city governments are to give more attention to:
(a) the needs of pedestrians for safe walkways and safe opportunities to cross streets,
(b) separation of slow and fast-moving vehicles, and
(c) measures to encourage cleaner vehicles, that is, ones that pollute less.
Separating motorized vehicles from pedestrians, carts and rickshaws can easily
quadruple a streets capacity in terms of traffic flow. All components of this flow can
benefit. Measures should be considered to strengthen incentives in favor of public
transport and against use of private cars in cities, including a higher tax on fuel and
regulation of parking, especially to discourage parking that blocks pedestrian footways.
To reduce the number of highly polluting mini-buses, introducing licensing of bus routes
(competition for the market) is recommended over open access (competition in the
market). There are some underpasses and over bridges in Dhaka city which were built
to provide alternate walkways for people to cross the roads, in places like Karwan
Bazar, Farmgate and Gulistan. Effective use of this can improve the current road
condition by reducing number of people walking through the busy roads. A study states
that a bus can provide space for 30 person more than a car but occupy only thrice the
area than a car. It will be very helpful to reduce load on the road by discouraging private
cars. Many buses with many stations should be introduced. It will lessen people's

dependence on small and private vehicles. Private vehicles kill much of the limited
space of the city. If big and luxurious buses can be introduced, the intensity of traffic jam
must be thinner and the people will lose interest in rickshaws because of comfort and
cheapness. In all the busy points there must be foot over bridges and no pedestrians
will be allowed to cross the roads where foot over bridges are constructed. All the news
media, police, schools, market, garment workers all will get the message and briefing
from their attached and concerned authorities to use foot over bridge. Many busy points
of the city don't have foot over bridges. Pedestrians are to cross the road every minute
making the processions of vehicles stopped and stranded. Its effect spreads several
miles. Again, there are many over bridges which are not used by the pedestrians
because of habit, lack of awareness and law enforcement. From now on it must be
made compulsory to use foot over bridges and the remaining crowd and busy point
must see the immediate construction of foot over bridges. Public transport system in
Dhaka city is not adequate and properly-routed. Instead of big and spacious buses,
presence of large number of mini-buses and private vehicles can only contribute to
carry few passengers, but not to reduction of traffic congestion. Number of public
transport should be increased to reduce traffic jam. If flyovers can be construction in the
main roads then the vehicles can move on the roads as well as on the flyovers at the
same time. That will surely reduce the load on the busy road travel through public
transports rather than private cars if proper public transportation service can be offered.
People think that public transport, like bus, can carry many passengers at the same
time which will reduce the cost and time expense for them.

For the rail sector, again 9 out of 25 respondents supported it. In one of the
Social and Gender Specialist contended that, he development activities which require
land acquisition cause displacement of many people. It leads many poor people to
become poorer. This displacement breaks the social ties affect their socio economic
statuses and surfaces of the people. It requires several years for the affected people to
cope with their new environment. Thus, people must prefer the investment in railway
communication services to reduce traffic jam because for improving the railway
communication system no further land is required. The land has already been acquired
for during British Period as well as to some extent in Pakistan Period. In compared to
other communication system the railway services can carry thousand times higher rate
of passengers as compared to any other communication system. For plying railway
services no traffic jam is faced. Hence this is much more reliable than any other
communication services. Rate of accidents is lower. The passenger support service is
much better than any other service (B. Taj, Peara, personal communication, 11
December, 2012). For improving the railway communication system cooperation among
various departments is very minimal. Thus it would relieve various people from
enormous suffering. Therefore, if the government really intends to minimize traffic jam,
the government must request on improving railway communication system. For other
communication system, particularly road-transport communication system, other
systems are not much reliable as railway communication system. There are much more
risk in other communication system, more traffic jam, no traffic rules are abide by, the
staff working in other communication service are unprofessionally skilled. Moreover, in
improving other communication system requires further land acquisition which would

further increase poverty rate of country. So due to lack of coordination among the
various involved agencies it will bring enormous suffering to the citizen.
For the waterway, only 5 supported for the investment on this sector. The inland
waterway system is not used to its full potential, due in part to inadequate dredging and
shortage of berthing facilities. While lack of resources is the main cause, the quality of
sector management and services provided by the operators has also contributed to
IWTs overall decline. Tariffs regulated by the Government are insufficient to generate a
reasonable profit, and as a result boats are overloaded, the cause for more than half of
the accidents on waterways. The private sector is more efficient in dredging, and it
offers a capacity. Improved waterways have the potential to reduce transport costs for
bulk cargo and provide better access to areas, such as in the North-West of
Bangladesh, where road access is limited.

Opinion about the railway communication service
Poor
44%
Moderate
32%
Good
20%
Very Good
4%
Figure 8

The above pie chart shows the rating of the respondents on the current railway
services. When asked to rate about the railway communication system in Bangladesh,
44% had to say it was poor. This is due to the face that there arent proper facilities
provided, others, around 32% said that it was moderate, 20% said that it was good and
4% said than the service is very good.

Shortcomings of the Existing Railway

The above bar diagram shows the shortcoming of existing railway where the x
axis represents the shortcoming and the y axis shows where the respondents believe
there are shortcomings. 16 respondents said that corruption is one of the major
shortcomings. This is based on the recent incident by the Bangladesh ex-Railways
Minister Suranjit Sengupta, after he has announced his resignation following allegations
that he took cash bribes from applicants seeking jobs on the state-run railway.
According to his statement he knew nothing and wasnt involved in this crime. According
7
11
8
6
16
6
12
0
0
5
10
15
20
Unskilled Human resource Lack of monitoring
Lack of Supervision Non-comliance of govt. rules
Corruption Unsafe ambiance
Few Railway Stations Other
Figure 9

to the news he resigned after he failed to convince the prime minister that he wasnt
involved in this crime. Another shortcoming is of few railway stations or depots in
Dhaka city. The depots are only found in Airport, Kakoli, Banani, Kamalapur railway
station, to mention a few. Trains are used for longer commutes with very a large number
of passengers. Railway transport is unsuitable and uneconomical for short distances. 11
respondents believed that lack of monitoring is one of the weaknesses of railway
service too. Passengers are not purchasing the tickets and the checkers arent checking
the tickets of the passengers either. Hence a huge section of revenue is reduced from
this particular sector reducing a countries profit and affecting the economy. 7 said that
there is lack of supervision for which there hasnt been any improvement in this sector.
The supervisors feel reluctant to report to the upper for such breach of laws. Under
unskilled human resource managers, checkers, ticket-sellers, etc. dont comply by the
law properly. Sometimes, during any occasions they dont sell the ticket on time for
which the passengers have to go through such hindrances. 6 respondents believed that
the ambiance is not safe in the railway sector. The train, almost every time is seen with
passengers taking accommodation in the roof top. But few realizes that why the
passengers have to do that. Due to few trains compared to number of passengers they
have to take their shelter there. Theres also non-compliance of government rules. As
usual, very few starting from the passengers till the high authority, none want to abide
by the rules of improving and very few shows interest in investing further in this sector.
Theres is no encouragement, no proposition from the ministers and no one to hear the
cry of the Dhaka citizens.

Their support for the government investment

This pie chart shows the support of the respondents for government investment.
When asked for the support of the government investment, astonishingly, 73.1%
supported it. They actually want the government to invest in this sector other than the
road sector. However, 26.9% might support governments investment. This might
depend on how well the government invest, what type of train they would provide, how
this service would facilitate their and bring a change in their daily activity. Of course,
with no doubt, this investment would take a lot of budget, a master plan, and would take
10-15 years to complete this project. Surprisingly, none answered no to show their
support for the governments investment.

73.1%
0%
26.9%
Yes
No
Maybe
Figure 10

Use Despite Increase in Fare for the New Service

The above pie chart shows the respondents use of the railway service despite of
an increase in fare. 44% of the respondents would like to avail this new service and at
the same rate, some might not want to intend to avail this new service. But a low
percentage, 12% of the respondents would not want to avail the service. The ones who
might want to avail the service would observe on how well the services are provided in
this sector, what facilities would be there that might want them to use this service. For
the ones who said no, they said that in the beginning the service might be good but
gradually it would start to deteriorate. So the expense at a point would not meet the
benefit they seek for. If the new service has enough seat, safe ambiance, proper
sanitation, good numbers of depots, passengers abiding by law and employees with
proper skill and training, monitoring and supervision power, then they might avail this
service. The respondents who agreed to use the service have reasons that a much of
their household income would be spent to establish infrastructure behind this sector, so
they would want to use this service.

44%
12%
44%
Yes No Maybe
Figure 11

Summary of Research Findings:
From the various questionnaires and the responses I have found that my
hypothesis of railway communication to be a solution to lessen traffic congestion is true.
Yes, this might be a solution to minimize the traffic congestion. Respondents mentioned
that commuters are suffering from this traffic congestion every second of their life which
is causing effect in their life and bringing negative impacts in their starting from social,
economic to health life. People have no other choice other than availing the road-
transport sector.
As a result, people are and might want to avail other communication service
other than road sector to avoid this congestion. Hence, Railway communication might
be one of the solutions that people would like to avail after road transport.

Recommendation/Suggestions:
My very first recommendation would be to make people abide by law starting
from a pedestrian till the highest authority, establish infrastructure in the railway sector.
The concerned ministers should devote taking an immediate initiative before this crisis
gets worse. Population in the Dhaka city would increase at an enormous rate which
cant be stopped, with that the number of road vehicles would also climb at a massive
rate despite on the limitation of roads. Hence, infrastructure in railway communication
would break the cluster of people travelling via road. Hence, it can be stated that the
government needs to and should invest in the second best sector, railway, to lessen the
traffic congestion and to save the people from this everyday trouble in Dhaka city.

Fortunately, Hardjanti, Lee, Ratcliffe, and Mongcopa (2008) mentioned that Asian
Development Bank (ADB), Japan, World Bank has funded for Railway Sector
Investment Program (RSIP) in Bangladesh. This project is for the improvement in the
railway sector with $830 million. The purpose is to ensure that the Bangladesh Railway
becomes a sustainable and commercially focused service provider through a parallel
program of institutional and organization reform and targeted railway infrastructure
investment (Railway Sector Investment Program: Bangladesh section, p. 4).

Conclusion
Dhaka City is the hub of Bangladesh. Its very important for this City to take vital
role in the economy of Bangladesh. But due to traffic jam, this City is causing the major
loss in the economy of Bangladesh. By reducing traffic jam, this city can play a very
important role for the country and at the same it can also bring relief and peace for the
citizens by ensuring healthy environment free from noise and pollution. To ensure a
healthy generation, traffic jam must be reduced. There are lots of solutions. Some are
short term and some are long term basis. We need to work on the basis of long term
plan and at the same time take care of short term solution to remove current
discomforts or problems. It needs a balance so that to fulfill too much short term solution
we do not ruin the long term plan. Our focus should be the solution of traffic jam, strong
economy and healthy environment. We have already shown solutions of traffic jam from
different perspectives. And there are some common solution depicted by general
people, vehicle operators or experts. So, we are summarizing the solutions in one

directed way so that our focus can be unidirectional. We want to reduce traffic jam using
resources that are within our limit.


Bibliography:

Delhi Metro, India. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.railway-
technology.com/projects/delhi-metro/
Hradjanti, K., Lee, J., Ratcliffe, M., Mongcopa, C., J., (2008, February 8). Railway
Sector Investment Program: Bangladesh, p.4.

Kibria, A. (2010, April 25). Railway needs a push. The Daily Star, 1. Retrieved from
http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=135781

Rahman, Md., S. (2005, August 10). Re-orientation of Bangladesh railway: A
market integration study. Retrieved from http://sr-milan.tripod.com/MBA-
Thesis.pdf

World Bank. (2009, April 16). Bangladesh transport policy note. Retrieved from
http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTSARREGTOPTRANSPORT/Resources
/BD-Transport-PolicyNote_9June2009.pdf

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