THE GENERAL MANAGER, OF EASTERN RAILWAY HELD A HIGH-LEVEL MEETING WITH THE REPRESENTATIVES OF THE WORLD BANK
Kolkata, February 20, 2024
Shri Milind K Deouskar, General Manager, Eastern Railway attended a high-level meeting on “Dissemination Worldhop on World Bank’s Initiative for Regional Rail Integration” with the representatives of World Bank through video conference from Eastern Railway Headquarters, Fairlie Place today (20.2.2024). Shri Sumit Sarkar, Additional General Manager, Eastern Railway, Md. Jamshed, Sr. Adviser, World Bank (South Asia), and Principal Heads of Departments from Eastern Railway & South Eastern Railway were also present in this meeting.
During the session, the World Bank representatives addressed the challenges and opportunities for enhancing rail connectivity with Bangladesh, India, Nepal, and Bhutan. Presently, the Eastern Railway maintains connections with Bangladesh through Petrapol – Benapole & Gede – Darshana, while the Northeast Frontier Railway oversees Singhabad – Rohanpur, Radhikapur – Birol, and Haldibari – Chilahati routes. Challenges discussed included limited capacity, gauge incompatibility, non-electrification, and operational constraints at major goods sheds.
Shri Milind K Deouskar, along with the Eastern Railway team, proposed several suggestions for improvement, establishment of goods sheds in areas prone to water logging, implementing 24X7 working hours at major goods sheds, exploring multi-modal transport operations, and enhancing market efforts at strategic locations in Bangladesh Railway were deliberated upon. He also stated that the Indian Railways can increase the connectivity with Bangladesh more than its existing capacity but Bangladesh Railways have no such infrastructure to accept the connectivity.
These insights and recommendations presented by Shri Milind K Deouskar, General Manager, underscore Eastern Railway’s commitment to continual improvement and collaboration with global partners like the World Bank to optimize rail infrastructure & operations.
