Bangladesh Railway continues to incur a large amount of financial losses every year. Despite meeting its targeted earnings from operating activities, the agency remains trapped in a cycle of deficits. Although operating income exceeds operating expenses by a significant margin, the Railway cannot break free from losses because of its large spending on repairs, maintenance, and welfare programs. A recent internal survey based on 10 mid-level stations from both regions reveals such a picture.
Five stations from each of the East and West Zones, selected for being mid-sized and centrally located, were assessed as benchmark stations. According to the Railway’s report, only one-tenth of the total income generated from operating activities is spent on operations. In other words, only BDT 1 is spent against every BDT 10. The remaining BDT 9 goes toward procurement of parts, repairs, renovations, and related auxiliary expenditures — yet still leaves the Railway with a deficit. As a result, the organization incurs losses of roughly BDT 15 billion every year. Sector insiders believe that, despite fixed revenue and expenditure targets at the operations division, comparatively higher spending by the engineering division continues to prevent the Railway from returning to profitability.
The interim government has taken various measures to reduce the two-decade-long financial losses of Bangladesh Railway. In a series of meetings with various government agencies, the Railway was instructed to gradually cut costs and increase revenue. These discussions unveiled the picture that the Railway spends more than two and a half times to earn every unit of revenue. While operating expenses remain reasonably under control, high levels of spending in the civil and mechanical engineering divisions far surpass income from passengers, freight, parcels, real estate, scrap, and other miscellaneous sources. In this context, the Railway conducted field-level surveys to analyze the revenue and expenditure of 10 stations.
A review of the related documents shows that, excluding major stations, the West Zone general manager (GM) wrote to the chief commercial manager on May 7, 2025, asking for monthly and annual revenue–expenditure reports for the stations in Jashore, Chuadanga, Natore, Joypurhat, and Dinajpur. According to the instructions, the expenditure calculations must include salaries and allowances, uniform supplies, cleaning materials, stationery purchases, clothing allowances, commissions paid to Shohoz (JV) for ticket sales, PT repair charges, and expenses incurred under traffic (commercial and operations), electrical, RNB, medical, signaling, mechanical, engineering, estate, and accounts departments. Similar instructions were issued to the East Zone’s chief commercial manager on April 29.
The West Zone’s commercial division submitted revenue–expenditure reports for its five stations on May 24. The data shows revenue of over BDT 646.34 million in FY 2023–24, against an expenditure of only around BDT 56.11 million. In contrast, the East Zone stations—Narsingdi, Brahmanbaria, Cumilla, Feni, and Jamalpur—generated total revenue of around BDT 504.79 million over the same period, with expenditure amounting to only about BDT 73.33 million. The report sent to the general manager on August 27 accounted only for traffic, electrical, RNB, signaling, and engineering expenses, and considered only the commercial division’s income.
Speaking to Bonik Barta, Bangladesh Railway Director General (DG) Md Amzad Hossain said, “We have begun efforts to reduce the income–expenditure ratio and turn the Railway into a profitable as well as increasing the quality of service. As part of this effort, we collected revenue–expenditure data from a number of selected stations across the country. Based on these findings, we have started working to reduce costs and enhance revenue. We have taken several initiatives, including increasing train numbers on profitable routes, strengthening monitoring to raise revenue collection, and boosting occupancy on trains. Although revenue at the operations and commercial divisions is satisfactory, we plan to strictly monitor expenditure heads to restore financial balance within a few years. In the first quarter of the current fiscal year, we have already observed visible progress. If we can maintain this momentum, it will be possible to expand services and bring the Railway to a profitable position soon.”
Bangladesh Railway earns more from freight services than from passenger trains. While nearly 95 percent of passenger trains operate at a loss, almost all freight trains remain profitable. However, the Railway’s recent revenue–expenditure survey did not include major freight-handling stations. In other words, the assessment excluded initial as well as first-class stations such as Dhaka (Kamalapur), Airport, Chattogram, Rajshahi, Khulna, and Sylhet. These stations account for the highest ticket sales and freight revenue across the country. As a result, their income is expected to far exceed their expenditure. By reviewing the expenditure of mid-level stations instead, the Marketing and Planning Division aims to portray the actual picture of the Railway’s losses.
According to officials, the operations and commercial divisions generate most of the revenue from the Railway’s 533 stations. Beyond the stations included in the survey, many other stations generate similar levels of income but incur significantly lower expenditure. In contrast, the engineering division accounts for the bulk of Railway spending—covering train repairs, procurement of parts, track maintenance, and repairs of staff housing and office buildings. For this reason, despite earning from 3,422 kilometers of track, where 337 passenger and 21 freight trains run daily, the Railway cannot return to profitability because of high costs in the engineering division. Moreover, during the previous government’s tenure, allegations of irregularities in procurement were raised—some of which have already been proven.
Speaking to Bonik Barta, Md Subaktagin, general manager of the Railway’s East Zone, said, “A substantial portion of Railway expenditure goes into welfare services. Particularly, pensions, healthcare, and education are major obstacles to making the Railway profitable. However, the investments made in recent years have begun to yield results. By strengthening services on high-demand routes through procuring new locomotives and coaches, and providing emphasis in freight, the deficit can be reduced.” He added that the Railway will soon identify excessive expenditure categories and take corrective measures based on the revenue–expenditure review of field-level stations.
Several senior officials from the Railway’s commercial and planning divisions, requesting anonymity, told Bonik Barta that the operations division (traffic and commercial) generates more than 95 percent of the organization’s revenue. However, this division lacks the authority to make even the minimum required expenditure to improve passenger services or enhance revenue. To increase income from ticket sales and freight, the division relies entirely on the engineering department for procuring locomotives and coaches. In many cases, the views of the operations division are disregarded, they said. Yet the same department is instructed to increase revenue from both passenger and freight services. According to them, although revenue targets continue to grow every year, the Railway can return to profitability only if expenditure is reduced and transparency improved.
Notably, the Railway plans to increase revenue by 10 percent annually. In Q1 of the current FY 2025-26, the West Zone earned over BDT 1.70 billion, compared with over BDT 1.33 billion during the same period of the previous fiscal year. The East Zone earned around BDT 3.10 billion, up from around BDT 2.06 billion in the previous year. Combined, revenue increased by BDT 1.42 billion across both zones in Q1. That is why, officials say that although revenue at the operations division continues to rise, Bangladesh Railway still struggles to turn a profit because of persistently high overall expenditure.