Rail transport in Bangladesh

Bangladesh Railway
বাংলাদেশ রেলওয়ে

Type	Departmental of the Government of Bangladesh
Industry	Railways and Locomotives
Founded	1862
Headquarters	Dhaka, Bangladesh
Area served	Bangladesh
Key people	Md. Amzad Hossain, Director General of Bangladesh Railway
Services	Rail transport
Revenue	৳8,002 million (2014)
Profit	৳ - 8,015 million (2014)
Number of employees	27,535 (2015)
Parent	Government of Bangladesh
Divisions	2 Railway Zones (East and West)
Website	www.railway.gov.bd

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Bangladesh Railway (Bengali: বাংলাদেশ রেলওয়ে), (reporting mark BR), is the state-owned rail transport agency of Bangladesh. It operates and maintains the entire railway network of the country. BR is controlled by the Directorate General of Bangladesh Railway under the Ministry of Railways along with Bangladesh Railway Authority (BRA) and which works for policy guidance of BR.

Key features of BR are the coexistence of several gauges, Broad gauge, Metre gauge and dual gauge, and the separation of the system by the Jamuna River (Brahmaputra) into a Western and Eastern Zone of operations with only one bridge, the 2003 Jamuna Bridge, connecting the two zones. Bangladesh Railway covers a length of 2,855 route kilometres and employs 34,168 people. BR operates international, inter-city and suburban rail systems on its multi-gauge network. It also owns coach production facilities. In 2014 it carried 65.00 million passengers and 2.52 million tonnes of freight making 8,135 million passenger-kilometer and 677 million tonne-kilometer.

Railway operation in today's Bangladesh began on 15 November 1862 when 53.11 kilometres of 5 ft 6 in (1,676 mm) (broad gauge) line were opened for traffic between Dorshona of Chuadanga District and Jogotee of Kushtia District. The next 14.98 kilometres 1,000 mm (3 ft 3 ³⁄₈ in) (metre gauge) line was opened for traffic on 4 January 1885. In 1891, the construction of the Bengal Assam Railway was taken up with British Government assistance; it was later taken over by the Bengal Assam Railway Company. On 1 July 1895, two sections of metre gauge were opened: between Chittagong and Comilla, a length of 149.89 kilometres, and between Laksam Upazila and Chandpur District, a length of 50.89 kilometres. Railway Companies formed in England handled the construction and operation of these sections in the middle and late 19th century.