Although the project is scheduled to be completed in June 2024, the country's first tourist rail Dohazari-Cox's Bazar railway will run experimentally in August ahead of the scheduled time.

Already 80 per cent of the project has been completed. Through this, direct rail communication with the world's longest beach tourist city, Cox's Bazar, including the capital Dhaka, will be started. About 1 lakh tourists can travel daily. High quality coaches like tourist coaches are being imported for the new railway of Cox's Bazar. A new project has been adopted for this.

Tourists will reach Cox's Bazar in 2.5 hours from Chattogram and 7 .5 hours from Dhaka. The work of the Dohazari-Cox's Bazar railway line construction project is being completed ahead of schedule by the daily work of around 1400 workers.

The construction of this railway line is progressing rapidly. 80 per cent work has been completed till January. 65 km railway line is visible. About 1400 workers are working daily. 750 manpower has been proposed for the management of 100 km railway line. There will be special 'Refrigerated Wagon Service' for transporting goods.

A new railway station is being built near the old station in Dohazari area of Chattogram. About 400 workers are working together there. Some are laying the railway line, some are laying the foundations of the railway line, some are cutting iron, some are doing infrastructure construction work. In this way, the construction of Dohazari-Cox's Bazar railway line is going on regularly.

If the overall situation is good, the authorities have plans to run the train on trial basis in June-July and finally in September-October. As a result, the railway line will touch the tourist town. If it is constructed, the beach tourists will get comfortable travel. Domestic and foreign tourists will increase. New horizons of the tourism city will be revealed.

If the project is implemented, Bangladesh will join the Trans Asian Railway Corridor along with Myanmar and China. This will be the government's gift to the countrymen before the next national assembly elections.

Md Mofizur Rahman, project director of Dohazari-Cox's Bazar-Ghumdhum Railway said, “The construction of this railway line is a landmark decision of the government. As a result, the work is progressing rapidly. Already 80 per cent of the work has been completed. 65 km of rail line is visible, out of 9 stations two are completed, five are beautified and two are under infrastructure construction.”

“At present construction work is going on simultaneously in Cox's Bazar city, iconic station construction, Ramu, Chakria and Dohazari areas. About 1 400 workers are working daily. I have sent a proposal to the ministry in June 2021 asking for 750 manpower in various positions for the management of this 100 km railway line. Now the manpower is awaiting finalization,” he added.

The Dohazari-Cox's Bazar railway line is being implemented at a cost of Tk 18 thousand 34 crore 48 lakh.

On April 3, 2011, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina laid the foundation stone for the construction of meter gauge railways up to Dohazari-Ramu-Cox's Bazar and Ramu-Ghumdhum. 88 km from Dohazari to Ramu. And 12 km from Ramu to Cox's Bazar. Railways are being built. 8 to 10 km of rail track is being laid every month.

Under the project, the country's first state-of-the-art iconic railway station in the shape of an oyster is being constructed at Cox's Bazar. Through this, the country's tourism sector will advance another step. The project, if implemented, will create a safe, comfortable, cost-effective communication system for tourists and local people.

Moreover, fish, salt, paper raw materials, forestry and agricultural products can be transported easily and at low cost. At the same time, arrangements are being made for the smooth movement of elephants and other wild animals during the construction of the project.

A 50 meter long overpass and three underpasses are being constructed for the movement of elephants on this railway. On the other hand, the 45th district of the country will be connected by rail. Initially 10 trains each on Dhaka to Cox's Bazar and Chattogram to Cox's Bazar route will run on dual gauge tracks.

The train will reach Cox's Bazar in 7.5 hours from Dhaka and 2.5 hours from Chattogram. About 1 lakh people can travel daily. Moreover, there will be a special 'Refrigerated Wagon Service' for transporting various products including fish, salt, dried fruit from Cox's Bazar to other parts of the country.

Distance from Chattogram to Cox's Bazar is 150 km. Distance from Dohazari to Cox's Bazar is 100 km. At present there is a railway line up to Dohazari. For this reason, the railway is going to Cox's Bazar from Dohazari via Ramu through Bon-Pahar river. 9 stations are under construction.

Iconic Station: A oyster shaped iconic building is being constructed in Chanderpara area of Jhelongha Union in Cox's Bazar. It is the only iconic railway station in the country. Built on 29 acres of land, the railway station building is 1,87,037 square feet. The building will have six floors. A beautiful oyster-shaped fountain will be created in the open field in front of the main building. Passengers will enter the station through the oyster fountain. Tourists can leave their luggage at the station and visit the beach and sightseeing places all day and return to their destination by night train.

Apart from this, the building will have passenger lounge, shopping mall, restaurant, star hotel, restaurant and conference hall.

Md Mofizur Rahman said, “It will be the first iconic station in the country. 85 perc ent of the work including the six-storey building of this railway station has been completed. Now the finishing work is going on.”

“During the construction of this iconic station, facilities of various modern stations of the world including China, Belgium, England, Italy have been taken into consideration. A total of 250 engineers including 110 foreigners were engaged in the entire project,” he added.

Project officials said that half of the tourists come to Cox's Bazar for one day. At this time they do not get a safe place to keep their belongings. Baggage and locker system is being kept in the station with importance to this matter.

Apart from this, there are modern traffic facilities; There are different drop areas for general and VIPs; Separate parking area for buses, private cars, microbuses and three-wheelers; There are supermarkets, pharmacies, ATM booths, post offices, tourist information booths, forex services, and various daily service centers.

@The report was published in Bengali on print and online versions of The Bangladesh Pratidin on February 6 and rewritten in English by Tanvir Raihan