Published :
Updated :
For all latest news, follow The Financial Express Google News channel.
On a sunny July morning, with white clouds scattered across the light blue sky, I take an autorickshaw from the busy Tiger Pass Circle in the heart of Chattogram. My destination is the Pahartali Carriage and Wagon Repair Workshop of Bangladesh Railway (BR). It is a short and pleasant ride down the beautiful Ambagan Road, which is flanked by big trees and shops.
Red and orange brick pillars rise high at the workshop’s grand entrance, supporting a horizontal beam at the top. The workshop’s name is inscribed in dark brown on the beam against a deep red background, and the large metallic gate beneath it is closed. From there, the area inside looks like a tree-covered park, with a sloped path from the gate leading to a white, gazebo-like structure.
I follow the path and arrive at the office of Divisional Superintendent (Workshop) Mostafizur Rahaman Bhuiyan, but he has to leave soon for a meeting. He tells me to explore the workshop on my own and then talk to Works Manager (Construction) Rajib Kumar Debnath if I have any questions. Rajib’s office is on the same floor of the two-storey, orange-beige building, with small fenced gardens in the yard creating a pleasant feel on the industrial premises.
The workshop’s history is tied to the colonial era. Carriage and wagon repairs began in 1947, the year that marked the end of British rule and also the partition of India, but the facility itself was established way back. In the early years of the 20th century, the Assam Bengal Railway used it to repair steam-powered locomotives.
A man works in the Carriage Shop: FE Photo
Today, the workshop’s primary role is the heavy repair and maintenance of all passenger and freight vehicles of BR’s east zone. Moreover, imported rail cars are commissioned, and various parts, including brake blocks, are made here. The vast workshop is spread over 35 acres of land, including 23 acres of open area and 12 acres of shed area, and has 12 kilometres of internal tracks, with a link to the Pahartali locomotive shed.
Tracks run even through the spacious yard, where I stand after coming out of Mostafizur’s office. In front of me is a red-brick building, an elegant piece of colonial architecture that immediately evokes a sense of the past and the railway system. It has a series of numbered archways that provide access to various sub-shops, where the serious work takes place.
The workshop comprises 22 sub-shops, and 12 of them handle construction and repair. The 12 sub-shops are Carriage Shop, Wagon Shop, CHR Shop, Bogie Shop, GOH Shop, Wheel Shop, Smithy Shop, Paint Shop, Welding Shop, Train Lighting Shop, AC Shop, and GER Shop. There are three production shops – Foundry Shop, Machine Shop, and Tool Room Shop – and four associate shops – Millwright Shop, Inspection Shop, Progress Shop, and Workshop Power Supply.
Made of corrugated metal sheets, the light grey ceiling of the Carriage Shop is supported by trusses, with pendant lights hanging at regular intervals. A variety of objects and tools lie on the dusty floor, which has several narrow, vertical pits dug parallelly. Dressed in casual wear, workers are engaged in a range of activities, including welding.
GOH shop is one of the 22 sub-shops under the workshop: FE Photo
I approach a worker to inquire about the types of activities they do here. His name is Md Shamim, a young man who joined the railway in 2023. He points to the pits and the tracks on them, describing them as “fit lines”.
“Once carriages are repaired in other shops, they are put on the fit lines for some final adjustments. The carriages you see here are almost ready,” he says.
Some of the carriages are newly painted, looking glossy in the ample daylight. Drawing my attention to one of those, Shamim says its bogies will now be adjusted and a few checks will be performed, including on brakes. The inspections are required to assess its fitness before it goes into operation.
“People often mistake coaches for bogies. A coach is the whole carriage where passengers sit. On the other hand, a bogie is a framework with wheels that support a carriage on the tracks. Each carriage has two bogies,” explains Shamim.
I ask him if he enjoys working here, and he says yes. He is the son of a railwayman, who retired recently. It was his dream to follow in the footsteps of his father, and he is now happy to live this reality.
Another worker, Md Shahadat Hossain, also feels the same way. He does steel work, which is divided into four sections. This work includes repairing the solebar, the main longitudinal beam that runs along the entire length of a railway vehicle's underframe.
“I am serving the public through my work. How many people get the chance to do so?” he says with a deep sense of gratification.
Train wheels are piled up: FE Photo
There is not much activity around as the lunch break has already started, but I can still hear a cacophony of metallic sounds. The workshop is open six days a week, except Friday. From Saturday to Wednesday, workers work in two phases – from 07:00am to 11:30am and from 12:30pm to 04:30pm, with a one-hour lunch break in between – while Thursday is a half day from 07:00am to 12:30pm.
The Wagon Shop, where I hardly see anyone, is even quieter. Walking around the huge red and yellow wagons and tank cars gives me a strange feeling of calm. The wagons are weathered, the machinery is old, and the white paint on the walls has faded in many places.
There are 431 pieces of plant and machinery at the workshop, including 350 mechanical and 81 electrical ones. Most of them have aged, and 271 are over 50 years old. Shock absorber, coil spring, and wheelset guide are the most commonly used items.
In the Paint Shop, the air is distinctly different, carrying the sharp scent of mixed chemicals. Some carriages are painted white with green patches, looking like unfinished canvases that are waiting for the final coat. In a corner, 18.2-litre paint buckets of Nerolac and Rainbow companies are stacked.
“Coaches are painted with enamel paint. There is no use of distemper here,” says Anwar Hossain, who works in the shop. He explains that after a carriage is brought to the shop, it is scrubbed and three coats of putty are applied in the required amount. After two more steps, the undercoat is applied, which is followed by the topcoat.
A train-themed monument near the main entrance: FE Photo
Requesting anonymity, a senior worker of the shop says their team is diligent and strives to meet deadlines, but manpower shortages have made this increasingly difficult. The crisis has substantially increased workloads. As a result, workers are caught between the imperative to keep the railway running and the struggle to cope with higher volumes of work.
Works Manager Rajib does not shy away from admitting the severity of the crisis when I meet him in his office after visiting several other shops. He says only 846 of the 2,255 approved posts are currently filled, resulting in a 62 per cent shortage. As many as 87 per cent of the grade-2 officer posts are vacant, the highest shortage in the total hierarchy.
“We are getting by, but ensuring work quality is a challenge. We are also plagued by a severe shortage of materials, especially stock items that are procured by the office of the Chief Controller of Stores,” he observes.
Then there is the chronic budget shortfall. Since the fiscal year 2017-18, the mechanical and electrical sections have received much lower allocations than their demands. According to Rajib, the workshop’s biggest success is that it is functioning despite all these problems.
A view of the Wagon Shop: FE Photo
A member of the 30th batch of the Bangladesh Civil Service, he joined the railway in 2012. Having earned a master’s degree from Macquarie University in Australia, he returned home in January 2025 and took up his current role in April. His prior experience includes working with locomotives for 10 years.
“I love deep technical work, which exists in locomotives. Component-wise troubleshooting, including that of traction motors and compressors, accounts for a major part of locomotive work. Carriage is monotonous for me, but the scope of work is much broader here,” he says.
On the way out of the workshop, I stop in front of a train-themed monument. Standing on red blocks laid out in a grid pattern, it features four pastel-coloured vertical slabs with cutouts and metal bars. It seems to represent the railway’s relentless motion, which is powered by the hard work of people like Shamim, Shahadat, and Anwar.