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The government has decided to build a chord line of the Dhaka-Chattogram railway with an eye to reducing travel time and distance between the capital and the port city.
Bangladesh Railway (BR) officials said the new line would reduce the distance between the two cities by over 80 kilometres and travel time by nearly three hours.
Meanwhile, a feasibility study of the chord line is progressing fast and will be completed by this year.
They also said the new route would be set up from Dhaka to Cumilla via Narayanganj.
Trains like 'Sonar Bangla Express' and 'Subarno Express' take about six hours for journey on the route.
The 321-km Dhaka-Chattogram route follows a long and winding course, touching Tongi and Bhairab before going past to Cumilla to reach Chattogram.
The consultants working on updating the feasibility study have proposed four alternative alignments to develop the track.
The new line that will run via Cumilla and Narayanganj will be 231-236km long.
The appointed consortium of Japan's Oriental Consultant Global, France's EGIS and Malaysia's HSS are conducting the feasibility study and preparing a detailed design, said project director Md Abdur Rahman.
Earlier in August 2014, the BR signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with China Railway Eryuan Engineering Group Co Ltd to implement the project.
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