The railway bridge over the Jamuna River and the East and West Railway Stations are set to undergo a name change.
The bridge, originally named after Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, will now be called "Jamuna Railway Bridge." Meanwhile, the East Railway Station will be renamed "Faydabad," and the West Railway Station will be rebranded as "Ibrahimabad."
The announcement was made on Sunday by Al Fattah Md Masudur Rahman, project director of the Bangabandhu Railway Bridge and Additional Director-General (Retd) of Railways.
According to Rahman, the Ministry has issued directives for the renaming of the bridge and the stations. After a review, the Railway Department proposed the names "Jamuna Railway Bridge" for the bridge, "Faydabad" for the East Railway Station, and "Ibrahimabad" for the West Railway Station.
These proposals have been submitted to the Ministry for final approval. Once approved, an official notification will be issued, formalizing the name change.
The new bridge will be inaugurated as the "Jamuna Railway Bridge." Rahman saidthat the bridge is expected to be officially opened by January 2025, and work is proceeding on schedule.
Earlier this week, Fahimul Islam, secretary of the Ministry of Railways of the Interim Government, visited the site and suggested naming structures after local places. He indicated that this naming strategy would likely apply to the newly constructed Jamuna River railway bridge as well.
The construction of the 4.80-kilometer-long dual-gauge double-track railway bridge, parallel to the Bangabandhu Multipurpose Bridge, was approved by the previous government on March 3, 2020. The total project cost is estimated at Tk16,780 crore, with Tk4,631 crore provided by the government and Tk12,149 crore funded by Japan's JICA.
In addition to the 4.80-kilometer bridge, the project includes the construction of 7.667 kilometers of railway approach embankments, loops, sidings, and a total of 30.73 kilometers of rail track.
Once completed, the new bridge will allow trains to travel at speeds of up to 250 kilometers per hour. However, for the first year after inauguration, the speed will be limited to between 100 and 120 kilometers per hour, with the journey across the bridge taking approximately 3.5 to 4 minutes.
Currently, 38 trains operate daily across the old Jamuna Bridge. Once the new bridge is operational, passengers from 16 districts in Rajshahi and Rangpur divisions, as well as 10 districts in Khulna division, will benefit from reduced travel time and improved service.