Britain’s DP Rail in deal to build new port rail link in Bangladesh

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Photo: Sohel Parvez Haque / Shutterstock.com.
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The Government of Bangladesh and Bangladesh Railway have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the British company DP Rail to deliver a new 240 km railway between Dhaka and Payra.

The agreement gives DP Rail the exclusive right to design, finance, build and operate a new railway between Dhaka and the Payra Seat Port.

China Railway Construction Corporation (CRCC) has been chosen as the project’s principal civil engineering contractor.

DP Rail said it expects rail freight services from the port to start in 2024. In its first year, the line is predicted to transport two million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU), increasing to around four million TEU by 2030.

UK Trade Envoy Rushanara Ali MP, who attended the signing ceremony on December 20, said: “This is a project of vital national importance to Bangladesh, and I welcome the fact that this project has been proposed as a “best of British” railway, representing a substantial export opportunity for the UK railway supply chain.”