Train washing plants close after 20 months, costing Tk 130,000 per wash

Bangladesh Railways purchased two automatic train washing plants for Tk 380 million, installing one at Kamalapur, Dhaka, and the other in Rajshahi. However, both plants were shut down after just 20 months of operation.

According to railway sources, the plants managed to wash trains 2,929 times before being decommissioned. This means that each wash effectively cost Tk 130,000—a stark contrast to the Tk 1,000 spent per wash using the traditional manual method.

The so-called “automatic washing plants” consisted of a few motorised brushes, a soapy water spraying system, and electric fans. The high installation costs raised concerns from the beginning. Railway officials now state that restarting the plants would require additional investments, which they deem unreasonable.

Each plant operated using electricity, water, and detergent. Factoring in all expenses, including manpower, the per-wash cost reached nearly Tk 150,000. By comparison, manual train washing, which relies on contract workers, costs less than Tk 1,000 per train.

The washing plants were procured under a broader project for purchasing railway coaches. Several railway officials claim the machines were included solely to expand the project’s budget. Allegedly, the decision to acquire these plants was influenced by certain railway officials and ABM Fazle Karim Chowdhury, a former Awami League MP who chaired the Parliamentary Standing Committee on the Railway Ministry for two terms. Fazle Karim is currently in prison, and it is alleged that he facilitated the purchase on behalf of the Bangladesh representative of the supplying company.

Over Tk 1 trillion was spent on various railway development projects during the 15.5-year tenure of the previous Awami League government, much of it financed by foreign loans. Despite significant investments—including new railway lines and fare hikes—losses continued to mount.

In the 2009-10 fiscal, Bangladesh Railways incurred a Tk 6.91 billion loss. By the 2022-23 fiscal, the railway’s income was Tk 17.83 billion, but expenditures reached Tk 33.07 billion, resulting in a Tk 15.24 billion deficit. This means that for every Tk 2 spent, the railway earns only Tk 1.

The equipment for Bangladesh Railway’s two automatic train washing plants was sourced from the United States. In 2019, three railway officials visited the US to inspect the equipment’s functionality before finalising the purchase.

Among them, Syed Faruk Ahmed, then Additional Director General (Rolling Stock), retired just days after the equipment was acquired. Fakir Md Mohiuddin, who was the Project Director, remains in the railway service and currently oversees a separate project for procuring 20 meter-gauge locomotives and 150 meter-gauge coaches, a project with an estimated cost of Tk 21.58 billion.

Following the fall of the Awami League government on 5 August, after the July mass uprising, Mohiuddin founded the Anti-Discrimination Forum within the railway sector and became its chief coordinator. The third official on the US trip was Mahabubul Haque, then Deputy Secretary of the Ministry of Railways.

Records from Bangladesh Railway indicate that the two washing plants were inaugurated in November 2021 by then Railway Minister Nurul Islam Sujan. The Dhaka plant remained operational until July 2023, after which technical issues emerged. By May 2023, only two trains were washed, and after that, the plant became completely inactive.

The Rajshahi plant ceased operations even earlier, in April 2023. Before its shutdown, it washed an average of eight trains per month. In total, the Dhaka plant washed 2,689 trains, while the Rajshahi plant handled 240 trains. Across both plants, 33,962 train coaches were cleaned.

The per-coach washing cost at these plants amounted to Tk 11,124.

A site visit to Kamalapur last Wednesday revealed that the washing plant is now covered in dust. A train was parked at the plant’s entrance, but no washing activities were taking place. Nearby, railway workers were seen manually washing trains using traditional methods.

One worker, speaking on condition of anonymity, revealed that even when the washing plant was functional, manual cleaning was still required.

“The plant could only wash the exterior of the trains. We had to scrub stains like tea spills, chewing gum, and dirt manually. The interiors, including the toilets, always had to be cleaned the old-fashioned way.”

In 2015, a Tk 13.74 billion project was initiated to purchase 200 meter-gauge and 50 broad-gauge coaches, along with two automatic train washing systems, as part of a larger railway modernization plan.

The project was funded by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), with coaches sourced from Indonesia and the washing plants purchased from the US-based NS Corporation.

The Bangladeshi associate contractor, Next Generation Graphics Limited, was closely tied to Fazle Karim Chowdhury, who was the chairman of the parliamentary committee on the Ministry of Railways at the time.

Fazle Karim's involvement in the contract raised questions of influence, and after the interim government took office, he was arrested on 12 September last year by Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) for attempting to illegally flee to India through the Akhaura border in Brahmanbaria.

Initially, the agreement for the two washing plants was set at approximately 336.4 million taka. However, costs increased later, with Fakir Md. Mohiuddin, the project director, adding an additional 41.4 million taka to the original price. As a result, the total cost of purchasing and installing the washing plants amounted to 377.8 million taka.

Mohammad Fakir Md. Mohiuddin told Prothom Alo that the washing plants were purchased due to railway needs at the time, but acknowledged that restarting the machines would require further investment. He mentioned that discussions were underway to evaluate and make new investments to revive the plants.

Sources within Bangladesh Railways claim that in many large-scale projects, unnecessary equipment was purchased to fulfill the desires of contracting organisations or influential figures. A prominent example was the purchase of four tamping machines used for line repairs, each costing between 150 to 300 million taka. Despite their high cost, nearly all of these machines are now non-functional.

The purchasing of the two washing plants, coupled with the inflated costs and subsequent lack of use, highlights the deeper issue of financial mismanagement in the Bangladesh Railway.

While the plants were purchased with the aim of modernizing and improving the cleanliness of railway services, the lack of proper planning and the failure to maintain the equipment have turned the investment into a costly and unnecessary liability.

As Bangladesh Railway struggles with ongoing financial losses, which amounted to 15.24 billion taka in the 2022-23 fiscal, it is clear that poor decision-making and questionable procurement practices are contributing to the inefficiency of the sector.

When the automatic washing plants were purchased, it was claimed that the systems would use 90 per cent less water compared to traditional train washing methods. Furthermore, the water used could be purified and reused. However, these promises were never fulfilled, and the systems never functioned as described.

Bangladesh Railways operates thousands of intercity train coaches and more than a hundred trains daily on round trips. In addition to intercity trains, there are also mail, commuter, and local trains, but only the intercity trains are washed regularly. This process typically takes place at the starting stations of the trains' journeys.

Workers involved in train washing report that an average team of 10 workers can wash four trains per day. Their monthly salaries range from 8,000 to 12,000 taka. In total, about 70 workers are employed at Kamalapur Railway Station, with their combined annual salary costs totalling less than 10 million taka.

In comparison, each automatic washing plant cost 180 million taka, which means that for the price of one washing plant, the salaries of workers for approximately 18 years could be covered under the traditional washing system.

Transport specialist and BUET Professor of Civil Engineering, Shamsul Hoque, told Prothom Alo that despite the DEMU train, purchased for 6.5 billion taka, remaining non-operational, railway officials continued making questionable procurement decisions.

He questioned why they failed to learn from past mistakes and insisted that those responsible for such purchases—especially those who traveled abroad to finalize deals—must be held accountable. “If the people behind these decisions are not brought to justice, real change will never happen,” he stated.

Professor Shamsul Hoque further criticised the previous government’s practice of approving projects that served vested interests, where politicians and contractors profited from inflated procurement deals. However, he argued that officials within the railway administration also played a key role in facilitating these decisions. “It is not just the politicians who should be questioned—why did the railway officials act as enablers? We need clear answers.”

*This report, originally published in Prothom Alo print edition, has been rewritten in English by Farjana Liakat