Bangladesh
DEMU Train DEMU train powered by Bangladeshi technology will run with passengers tomorrow
Dhaka, October 8: DEMU (Diesel Electric Multiple Unit) train, which has been idle for a long time due to the manipulation of Chinese institutions, has been revived with indigenous technology. The operational DEMU train will run on the Rangpur-Parvatipur route from tomorrow Sunday (09 October).
As per the decision of Bangladesh Railway, a demo train will ply from Robabar to Parvatipur-Rangpur route. As per the schedule, it will leave Parvatipur at 5:15 PM and reach Rangpur at 6:10 PM daily. Again it will leave Rangpur at 6:20 PM and reach Parvatipur at 7:20 PM. If the performance of the running train is satisfactory, it will also run on Parvatipur to Dinajpur, Parvatipur to Kaunia and Kaunia to Kurigram routes in future.
According to railway sources, in 2013, 20 sets of DEMU trains were imported at a cost of 650 crore taka. The purpose was to transport mass passengers over short distances through that train. China's Tanson International and Daniel Technical Research Institute are the makers of the demo train. The computer controlled trains are operated with a kind of special software which the technology manufacturer has not handed over to Bangladesh.
If its module fails, software setup with new module is required. For this they had to hire Chinese engineers which was very expensive. A DEMU contains 40 modules. One of which costs about 7 lakhs taka. One train after another broke down as Chinese engineers did not transfer the technology.
In this regard, the cooperation of former student of Bangladesh University of Engineering (BUET) and former officer of Nuclear Energy Commission Engineer Md. Asaduzzaman was sought. Asaduzzaman started research on DEMU. He chose a room in the Syedpur Railway Officers Club as his laboratory. In a 72-day effort, he invented the technology to run a DEMU like a bus-truck. He removed expensive modules. In that case only two controllers are installed. A defunct set of DEMU trains were started.
Incidentally, on September 4 at 3 PM, a DEMU train started a trial run from Dinajpur's Parvatipur Railway Junction to Bir Muktijoddha Sirajul Islam Railway Station in Panchagarh with a number of passengers.
