Crocked Demu train from China repaired using home-spun genius
One of the dysfunctional Diesel Electric Multiple Unit (Demu) trains imported from China has been fixed, and started operating again carrying passengers and goods from Sunday.
The train's return to the track was inaugurated by Railways Minister Md Nurul Islam Sujon at Parbatipur Railway Station in Dinajpur.
Railways minister Nurul Islam Sujon and local MP Mostafizur Rahman Fizar boarded the Demu train when it went to Kholahati station in Parbatipur upazila at a speed of 60kmph after the inauguration ceremony.
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The minister said that the railways department is taking measures to make 14 other Demu trains that had the same problem operational within this year. "Hopefully the Demu trains will be made operational at a cost of less than Tk50 crore rather than Tk100 crore," he added.
The demo train later left the station with passengers for Rangpur at 5:20pm.
The newly-operable Demu train's movement will remain limited to carrying passengers from Parbatipur station leaving at 5:15pm every day to reach Rangpur station for now.
It will leave Rangpur station again at 6:20pm and reach Parbatipur station at 7pm, said the station authority.
In 2013, a total of 20 Demu trains were imported from China at a cost of around Tk6,500 crore. But one by one all the trains stopped running before the expiration of the warranty period in 2020. The supplier demanded a hefty amount of money from the Bangladesh railways ministry to repair and operate the Demu trains again.
As a result, the trains were left lying idle and immobile in different places.
Local Engineer Asaduzzaman along with a team of his fellows took up the challenge of fixing the trains and making them operational again at Parbatipur Central Locomotive Factory by replacing the Chinese technology with locally-made parts.
As part of that project, the first of the rejigged trains rolled off the platform at Parbatipur Railway Station today.
The engineering team hopes to have similar success with the 14 other trains they are working on.
