Project on the way to reactivate DEMU

Six billion taka was spent on buying Diesel Electric Multiple Unit (DEMU) trains from China. The limited number of days they operated after that could not even cover the operational costs.

The DEMU trains went out of service only after seven years. Now the railway authority has started planning a new project to repai those DEMU trains.

However, many policymakers are still doubtful on issues like how long the trains be able to run after being repaired or if operating DEMU trains will cover the costs incurred.

A meeting was called with railway secretary Md Humayun Kabir in the chair Thursday morning. The railway authority made a ‘power point’ presentation on repairing the DEMU trains.

According to sources, the presentation highlighted repairing all the DEMU trains within December next year under short, mid and long term action plans.

20 sets of DEMU were brought from China in 2013. They went out of order, after running for seven years.

Recently at the initiative of the railway’s mechanical department, engineer Md Asaduzzaman, who worked at different contractor companies, repaired a DEMU train at Parbatipur locomotive workshop. Railway minister Md Nurul Islam inaugurated trial run of the train on last 9 October.

The railway minister told Prothom Alo, once the repaired DEMU runs with passengers for two to three months, it will be possible to determine how sustainable the repairing is.

All related issues including repairing costs of the remaining ones and technology will be discussed at the meeting. The final decision will be taken later, he added.

Railways ministry sources said, high-tech software-based modules and electronic parts have been used in the DEMU trains of China. During the repairing period, the overall technological system and parts of the single DEMU set have been changed throughout one and a half years.

Concerned people say the parts and technology that have been employed now are cost-effective and easily available.

Several responsible railway officials have said, though it is being labeled as cost-effective, the records of how much it cost to repair one single DEMU train could not be calculated yet.

It is assumed that it took about Tk six million for the module to be changed and for other technical issues. There are other expenses counting the power and miscellaneous cost. Including all, it can take more than Tk 10 million to repair each of the DEMU set.

Railway sources say the main objective of Thursday’s meeting was to decide on repairing the rest of the DEMU trains.

Some of the concerned officials fear the final cost can soar even higher if the ministry gives approval. The reason behind that fear is that, no open tenders will be called for the repairs..

Railway sources say that, the power point presentation prepared for the meeting states that only six sets of DEMU are in working conditions right now. Of them, only two sets are active inside Dhaka.

Railway operating division however confirmed, not even a single DEMU train operated from Kamlapur Railway Station of anywhere inside Dhaka division within the past one month.

Only one train is active in Lalmonirhat division, the one the minister inaugurated after being repaired. Besides according to given information, there are three sets of active DEMU in Chattogram division.

However, railways’ Chattogram division sources say a DEMU train broke down midway while moving on the Chattogram-Nazirhat track last month.

The operating division is reluctant to let these trains run for they often break down on the way like this.  

In addition, although six sets of DEMU are said to be active, the Thursday meeting was called with a proposal of repairing all of them freshly.

Towards this end, short, mid and long term action plans have been included in the power point presentation.

According to the plan, two-three sets of DEMU trains which can be operated with low maintenance including module change will be repaired by next January.

It has been said that five more sets of DEMU trains can be repaired by next June under the mid-term plan. All the remaining trains will be repaired by next December, under the long term plan.

On condition of anonymity a responsible railway official told Prothom Alo, if six sets of DEMUs are in operation, why aren’t the transporting passengers? And why would the trains that are in good shape will be repaired by spending extra money?

In actuality, about Tk 10.5 million have been spent in the name of making DEMUs operational even before this. In addition to this, another hefty amount of money went into daily maintenance as well.

The official added, it wouldn’t be prudent to take any decision without being sure of facts like how much has been spent on repairing the DEMU so far, how much it will cost to repair them again and how long it will last once made operational.

Another official said that DEMU has turned into a headache now. Trains worth Tk 6 billion cannot be just thrown away. Meanwhile, there’s no guarantee of them becoming operational after being repaired either.

When asked, railway minister Nurul Islam told Prothom Alo it will be possible for them to calculate how sustainable the repair is, after only two to three months.

He said, the original DEMU needed 20 batteries. Now, an initiative has been taken to operate them with just two batteries. If it is possible to repair them using indigenous technology, there will be no problem if minor repairs are required later.

A total of 20 sets of DEMU were purchased in 2013, at a cost of around Tk 6 billion. Including all, the DEMU trains have transported about 9.7 million passengers. This earned about Tk 220 million while about Tk 300 million went into repairs and fuel.

Each railway engine, coach and wagon has an economic life fixed for them. The life expectancy for the engines is calculated at 20 years. It is 35 and 45 years respectively in case of the coaches and wagons. Each of the DEMU train lasted only three to seven years.

In addition to supplying the DEMU trains, 19 types of main parts, 37 types of general parts, 137 types of maintenance parts and 37 types of (equipment) tools and devices to be used in the repair work were supposed to be provided, as per the contract.

However the railway sources said that the project officials did not receive all the parts of those devices accurately. Because of this, required parts for repairing the DEMUs were not found later.

Official documents states, eight people were sent on a trip to China at a cost of more than Tk 4.8 million for the purchase of DEMU. It was their responsibility to scrutinize DEMU’s effectiveness along with other issues.

Among them there were six railway ministry and railway department officials with one official each from planning ministry’s implementation monitoring and evaluation department (IMED) and the planning commission.

Meanwhile, six engineers were given training for four months from the project funds. And, this cost Tk 9.7 million.

Railway sources say, even though DEMU train runs all over the world, the trains operating in Bangladesh are not of premium quality. Even, appropriate infrastructure was not built prior to buying the new technology. The design is not user friendly either. As a result, this train did not last long, and the passengers did not accept it well.

Railways are owned by the government. Both of its profit and loss has to be borne by the public. The money from the DEMU project that is about to go down the drain, is also public money. In fact, the railways incurred a loss of about Tk 23 billion in the last 2021-22 fiscal year.