Thursday, 29 January 2026

BR Bangladesh Trip Report 4th - 10th January 2026

Exactly the scene one imagines of Bangladeshi railways! MLW-built Alco (YDM4) 2318 is captured moments after sunset departing from Mymensingh with an overloaded 'Dewanganj Commuter' bound for Dhaka. Ancient stock, roof-riding and people everywhere is all part of the scene in Bangladesh! 08/01/2026

Introduction:

Ever since returning from India at the back end of 2022, there was a part of me that longed to visit Bangladesh. Here was everything that India is no longer- diesel trains, an extensive meter gauge network and bewildering scenes with people everywhere including all over the train. 
Following the trip, countless people had shown me pictures of crazy Indian trains, covered in people- they all had one thing in common; they were not from India at all, but Bangladesh. 

YDM4 2411 doing what Alco's do best!
Tongi Market, 09/01/26
A bit of research revealed that Bangladesh has something of a split railway system. By and large the railways to in the western half of the country, on the left side of the River Ganges [Padma] were built to 'Indian' broad gauge, while those to the east were largely meter gauge, with a lot of interesting dual gauge track also thrown into the mix. In Bangladesh it was possible to see lengthy, long distance meter gauge trains, something India has long wished to confine to the history books. While roof riding is common place, it was identified that the peak of this activity, and those famous photos on the internet are mostly taken around the Bishwar Ijtema festival which takes place outside Dhaka, typically in January- the largest second largest Muslim gathering in the world. A plan was hatching, and having finally found some company it was concluded that a January trip would tick all the boxes. The Ijtema festival, as well as the dry season where temperatures would not be too hot, and the days should be dry and sunny. We would base ourselves in Dhaka, with a decent hotel for a base and in order to make the whole experience a little less rancid. This area would net us the most trains, even if much of the photographic potential was being lost to road building schemes.

A few weeks before the trip a small blow was dealt - due to forthcoming elections Ijtema was being postponed until March. There was nothing we could do about that but hope to still see some overcrowded trains regardless.

Sunday 4th January:

Our first Bangladeshi train - One of the new Hyundai-Rotem
GT38's negotiates market stalls north of Biman Bandar. 04/06/26
Arrival into Dhaka was early afternoon, having flown in from London via Jeddah with Saudia.
Illusions of a wonderful week of weather were shattered before we had even touched down- a look out of the plane window revealed what appeared to be a total white-out below us, and as we touched down visibility could only be described as abysmal. We had not expected crystal clear skies, but if this was the pollution we would be dealing with all week, it was not going to be good! 

Electing for Visa on arrival cost us considerable time prior to immigration. You first follow signs that take you straight past the desk you need to visit- then join two separate queues to both pay, and then have your visa processed. Unsurprisingly the process is not quick, but despite from being classified as 'Chinese' at the payment desk, the process went without too much difficulty. A lot of paperwork is involved, but fortunately the information that for a tourist visa the 'invitation letter' which was being demanded of many around us was indeed not required. 

Several hours later, we had wondered what the fate of our luggage might be. However we needn't have worried- it was 2 1/2 hours before any of the baggage from the plane even began to appear on the carousel- so in reality that whole visa process was time neutral! 

Hyundai built GT18 2906 passes the street scene in Dhaka. The elevated expressway construction will soon cross the railway here and render this vantage point useless. 04/01/26

A man with a plank and a GT38. 04/01/26
After checking into our hotel, the Grand Visitana, it was time to get to the railway considerably later than we had hoped. As well as being near to the airport, the hotel was a 10-15 minute walk from the airport station at Biman Bandar, where virtually all trains stop. We spent a busy hour between a crossing and the station before the light totally faded. It was instantly clear to see that Bangladesh was going to delivery on the 'people everywhere' promise with the street scene being completely bonkers! 

I needed to be back at the hotel for 18:00 as I had a non-railway appointment to seek out the textile district and get myself a suit made! This involved meeting family of a colleague and travelling by car into the centre of Dhaka- not a journey for the faint hearted, and a real introduction to congestion and the perils of the roads! The evening finished with a very good meal and some good conversations about Bangladesh and the world. 


Monday 5th January:

WDM3 (ex India) 6513 is seen shortly after departure form Dhaka Kamlapur with the Nakshikantha Express for Khulna. This is one of very few Alco powered broad gauge trains to take the new line over the Padma Bridge. 05/01/26
Broad gauge WDM3 6506 is passed by Meter
gauge GT18 2920 at Dhaka Kamlapur. 05/01/26
Despite promises of good weather again, the pollution index today was once again off the scale, and it was clear that any hopes of a clear sunny day for photography were hopeless. Anyway, we had travelled all this way, we may as well make the best of it! 
Our first journey by train was behind meter gauge loco 2904, we chose to buy our tickets on board, having been told this was not an issue here, and indeed, the conductor in our coach was happy to sell us our tickets to Dhaka Kamalapur. 

Away from the Dhaka Elevated Expressway which is building a motorway above the railway most of the way from Tongi to the main station at Kamalapur, we spent some time on the southern approach to the station. There are far less trains here, just the meter gauge services to Narayaganj and a handful of broad gauge trains which use the new Padma bridge (a major project completed in 2022 to connect the capital with the South West of the country and India). Having found our first chai from a nearby shop we set up camp watching the railway go by on the lineside. There are clear intentions to run more trains here- there is a three track dual-gauge alignment, but only one line is currently in use. Traffic is presumably intended to increase on the new line, while the corridor also forms part of the project to build a new more-direct dual gauge line to Chittagong.
As well as the expected Narayaganj train we also caught our first broad gauge Alco, with 6513 arriving on a mail train from Khulna before running around and departing again. Luckily we were able to get the information on this train from the friendly crossing keeper, since it did not exist on the timetables which Rob had put together in advance.
2318 at the terminus at Narayanganj having run-round read to work back to Dhaka Kamlapur. 05/01/26

Alco 6513 passes drying laundry. 05/01/26
Our target for the afternoon was to ride the line to Narayanganj, who's key attraction was haulage by the MEM-14 class of locos built by MLW- better known by their Indian designation; YDM-4. We knew (or at least thought) that our sightings of this class with their Alco power plant were likely to be limited, and having enjoyed our runs behind them in India it was a must to catch up with them again here- even if it was just on this 45 minute commuter line. 

Tickets were purchased from the window at the station (having found the correct one, near the southern concourse) before our first error of the trip. With hindsight it was probably a bad idea to pick this moment attempt to ride on the locomotive given that railway police had been sighted on the station. Unsurprisingly we were spotted and strongly encouraged off the loco! Thanks to actually having tickets for the train our travel inside the coach was unhindered - I am sure if we had been Bengali nobody would have cared where we had attempted to travel! 

The timetable for the Narayanganj line (as well as the Google departure board for Dhaka) suggested that as well as the two-hourly local service, there should be a number of express trains on the route, so we stopped off at Fatulla on the return, where I had identified a photospot to attempt to photograph one of these. Unfortunately such a train never manifested and instead we spent the best part of two hours trying to come up with answers to the locals questions who were, not unreasonably, astounded that two British tourists should choose not only to come to Bangladesh, but to spend their first afternoon by the lineside at Fatulla! 

Progress Rail GT42AC 6615 hauls a broad gauge train off the new line towards Dhaka. The many unregulated brick works are a key factor affecting the pollution in the city. 05/01/26

New friends and roof-riders behind 2318.
The return to Dhaka presented the opportunity to tick off a real Bangladesh bucket list item- riding on the roof of the train- and with a YDM-4 at the helm! I've got to say, it was a great deal of fun, especially if the only damage from the Alco exhaust was needing a shower back at the hotel! Learning from earlier, we climbed back to coach level at Gandaria, one stop before journey's end. Back in Dhaka, there was a quick connection onto a train back to Biman Bandar at 17:00, and given it was our first sighting of a broad gauge train we jumped at it. Power was provided by one of the new Progress Rail BEP-32 locomotives, a GT42AC, much like we had seen in Tunisia a year earlier only on the meter gauge. 


Alco reflections with YDM4 2318 pictured approaching Fatulla en-route to Narayanganj. 05/01/26

After a freshen up it was time to head back to Dhakar Kamalapur as we were booked on the overnight sleeper to Chittagong, Bangladesh's second largest city. While waiting for the stock some night shots were taken of both meter gauge and broad gauge locos, including our current favourite, YDM4 2318 returning from another trip to Narayanganj. Also photographed was MEH-14 2518 bringing in a night mail train. It has to be confessed, there was such excitement over the mail coach, that it completely bypassed in the dark that this loco was Alco powered! 
Hitach Alco 2518 has shunted stock into the station at Dhaka Kamlapur ready to form a night mail service. This loco would not ultimately work the train. 01/05/26

Traction for our train was one of the 2020 build Hyundai-Rotem MEI-20 locomotives, 3020. After being checked in to our berth we found the accommodation to be fairly comfortable, and our one fellow traveller quite trouble-free company, only speaking once to turn the light off. 

The overnight mail train is loaded at Dhaka.
There is no mail sorting facility on board. 05/01/26
Haulage Log
2904 (GT18) MG- 33 Titus Commuter; Biman Bandar - Dhaka K
2313 (YDM4) MG- 8 Narayanganj Commuter; Dhaka K - Narayanganj 
2313 (YDM4) MG-9 Narayanganj Commuter; Narayanganj - Fatulla
2313 (YDM4) MG-11 Narayanganj Commuter; Fatulla - Dhaka K
6632 (GT42) BG- 805 Chilahati Express; Dhaka K - Biman Bandar 
3020 (GT38) MG- 813 Cox's Bazar Express; Biman Bandar - Dhaka K 
3020 (GT38) MG742 Turna Express; Dhaka K - Chittagong

Tuesday 6th January:

Smart GT18 2611 awaits departure from Chittagong with an afternoon local service. 06/01/26

GT18 2919 is flanked by newer meter gauge traction
in the form of Hyundai-Rotem GT38ACL's. 06/01/26
We were woken by the carriage attendant shortly outside Chittagong, with arrival roughly on time. While I never sleep particularly well on these overnights, the train had been comfortable and some sleep was definitely had. There was a positive start to the day also, in that we could see the moon and stars- definitely a good omen to finally get some sunshine! 
Pre-dawn time was spent taking some night shots, many of the locos here being in the more attractive (older) teal and cream livery.
Henschel - Adtranz JT18U6 2718 departs from Pahartali depot. These locos now appear to be approaching the end of their careers with much of the fleet now dormant. Those which do survive, such as this example, are in a deplorable state. 06/01/26
 
I had a need to find some 'facilities', and on seeing the state of the squat toilets at the station, instantly regretted not going on the train- fortunately a hotel around the corner solved the issue and also allowed some very nice breakfast to be picked up from a nearby stall, all for peanuts and a few selfies of course!

Back at the station the sun was struggling to win over some clouds in the sky, but we got talking to a friendly driver, who after giving us the usual warning about staying safe, offered us a look in his cab and arranged for another crew to take us on a light engine movement to our next stop, the depot at Pahartali. There was a nice line up of locos here, including a bit of a highlight for me, one of the MEL-15 Henschel 2700's. It looked a right state with dents, missing lights and a broken engine room window, so it took both of us by surprise when 2718 then moved off the depot and didn't come back! 

Another notable exhibit on the depot was one of the 'DEMU trains'- something of a failed experiment purchased from CRRC, China in 2013 for local and regional trains. Unfortunately (depending on your viewpoint) the 20 units lasted barely 10 years in traffic and are now all laid up having proven to be unpopular, difficult to maintain and totally inadequate in service.

Hyundai-Rotem 3007 passes through Sitakunda at speed. 06/01/26

Now we were accosted by the depot security, and a driver to translate. Clearly we should not have been brought to the depot by the traincrew, but our ejection was a very pleasant one- we were treated to a chat about railways and a chai at a nearby stall, and then pointed on our way (away from the depot)! Fortunately there is a bridge over the complex from where we could continue our exploits. 

2718 rolls into Pahartali with the 'Karnaphuli Commuter' to 
Dhaka. We would board, unaware of the stopping pattern. 06/01/26
Shortly after the battered wreck of 2718 which we had seen leave the depot earlier caused another stir- here it was leading a local passenger train! Since we knew there were only a handful in traffic it had to be done, and I quickly worked out that a tuk-tuk (or CNG as they are known here) ride back from the next station would take us just 12 minutes. 
Of course, you can guess what happened next. We passed that station at speed, and the next, and the next! Eventually a good 30 minutes out we made our next stop at Sitakunda where we passed the next train we were hoping to photograph. Now needing to get back to Chittagong, or to Pahartali it was not a position of strength to find out from the station manager that the next train was in some 6 hours time, and Uber was suggesting the nearest car was 5 hours away. In a bit of a 'race across the world' moment it was a walk to the main road to try to find a bus. This worked surprisingly well and within minutes we were on a vehicle which wasn't hanging around, had paid around 30p for tickets and were on our way back to Chittagong! Phew!


An overall view of Phahartali from the footbridge. Note 2919 being lifted by the crane and the abandoned Chinese 'DEMU train'. 06/01/26

Retired GMD B12's on the depot at Halishahar. 
2015 and 2021 are now used to dry washing. 06/01/26
Arriving back at Pahartali just in time for the next train this all turned out to be quite a good move. Miraculously we hadn't missed anything and had also made it back to see one of the 3000's being turned on the turntable as well a the breakdown crane come out to play to lift 2919. After a successful morning it was now time to move on to our next target, the freight depot and yard at Halishahar. To get there we employed a battery powered rickshaw, with quite a character at the handlebars. While risking our lives along the main roads we were treated to singing and an Bangla language lesson- after 20 minutes we were fairly pleased it was all over! 

GMD GL8 2226 is under repair in the small shed at Chittagong Halishahar. 06/01/26

This large yard is the main processing point for rail freight from Chittagong port and also home to a small depot. There was virtually no activity in the yard, and the only locos we could see were at the depot, where we were welcomed to take some pictures. The locos here were older, and the highlight was a line of stored MEG-11 GEC B12's dating from 1953 and the first diesel locos to be imported into the country. These examples were all stored, but two locos based at the depot are still amazingly in use on infrastructure trains and would form the basis for future days excursions. As well as the B12's, a number of other locos were on site, including a MEG-9 GMD GL8 (think Irish 121, and also similar locos in Tunisia) which was being worked on, as well as a number of stored examples.

2918 with a 'false departure' in lovely evening night at Chittagong. The loco was engaged in shunting coaches for a train which by all accounts should already have left! 06/01/26

2918 shunts a fuel wagon at Chittagong. 06/01/26
Finally back at Chittagong station we coincided some lovely light with a quiet period in departures. 2611 made a great shot departing with a local service on old coaching stock, but otherwise before the last of the light there was just some shunting of wagons and coaching stock for, presumably, delayed services. As the light began to fall we were handed a note by some station staff warning us not to stay in the area due to 'incidents of theft and robbery', and while we felt quite safe, after a successful day it was time to celebrate with a beer - something not too easy to find in Bangladesh. Fortunately we had a recommendation from Jez to try the 'Railway Mens Stores Limited Restaurant and Bar' which did the job, even if if the whole place was in near total darkness (no mass slaughter of cows as Jez had experienced though!). It was also soon discovered that one way to make your Taka disappear is to spend it on beer, which is very heavily taxed. 

In the interests of speed, our return to Dhaka was by air (though we'd not have objected to another night on the sleeper), with an Uber to Chittagong airport, where we arrived long before check in opened an hour before the flight. Biman Bangladesh airways provided a Dash-8 turboprop which had us back in the capital in 45 minutes. Given we had hand luggage only this time I cannot report on delays at the carousel!

Haulage Log
2718 (JT18) MG- 3 Karnaphuli Commuter; Pahartali – Sitakunda.

Wednesday 7th January:

YDM4 2319 departs Mymensingh after running-around the 'Mahau Commuter' bound for Mohanganj. Any attempt to operate the level crossing barriers here has been abandoned in favour of a man with a flag attempting to stop traffic. 07/01/26

Initially, in our framework for the trip, todays plan was to venture onto the broad gauge network- however the nearest point where we might see something different from that available in Dhaka was Ishwardi, some four hours away by train. This would mean a very early start, and a late finish for somewhere we really weren’t sure about in the first place… so plan B.

Mymensingh is a pleasant meter gauge junction station. Hyundai GT18 2922 is seen departing long hood first with the 'Tista Express'. 07/01/26

We had been given a tip off that one of the ancient B12 diesels, 2025, was working out of Mymensingh, a mere 2 and a bit hours north of Dhaka, and with very reasonably timed trains. Seeing one of these locos had really been on our hit list, so it was an obvious choice to give it a go! Despite booking standard tickets on the ‘Tista Express’ out of Biman Bandar, we were fortunately able to upgrade on the train to some comfortable seats, and got a bit more sleep on the journey. As we went for got progressively thicker, and when despite surprisingly passing the other serviceable B12 2023 the light was so poor that any thoughts of getting off to see it were quickly overcome.

At Mymensingh we were met by Rakin whom Rob had befriended on Instagram, and who had much local information for the area. What we were not greeted by however was the B12- its ballast pile being worked by some yellow track plant thing. Maybe it would come back? We were advised not. It was working somewhere beyond Jamalpur which was 3 hours away by train and even further to drive… we looked at the options, but there wasn’t really one, and once the train to get there was an hour late those options dropped to ‘absolutely none’.

Not the shot we desired! 2403 leads the 
Balaka Express through a construction site!

Still, Mymensingh turned out to be a pretty decent place to be. A pleasant ‘traditional Indian’ meter gauge junction station- the sort that simply doesn’t exist in India anymore.
There were a good number of trains, and it was on the line we where we had been advised that a few of the YDM-4’s worked. The first of these was the ‘Mahua Commuter’ which turned up behind 2319, ran round and then headed north, taking the bridge over the old course of the Brahmaputra river. I had worked out that once it departed, we should just have time to CNG it to the bridge to photograph the next of the MLW’s arriving with the 'Balaka Express'. Only we dithered and photographed a yellow ‘thing’, encouraged by our new friend that we still had plenty of time to get to the bridge.

We didn’t. As we arrived the train could be heard rapidly approaching, and ended up being photographed through a building site. Bother! What a great shot that *would* have made!
Anyway… spilt milk and all that, we explored the loco shed where another YDM-4 (2311) was lurking together with an out of service Hitachi built steam crane.

Having run around and now heading for Dhaka, 2403 is seen again on the outskirts of Mymensingh with the 'Balaka Express'. The line in the background leads to the aforementioned bridge over the Old Brahmaputra. 07/01/26
2929 on a train at Dusk at Mymensingh.

The rest of the afternoon was pleasantly spent photographing the few trains and being talked to by locals, along with enjoying some station food lunch and chai. We met a nice young lad who was clearly into trains and wanted to know about the class 66’s he had seen on Train Simulator. I tried to educate him in HST’s instead. Not sure it worked!

We had one more attempt at a shot on the bridge, this time rather head-on of the 'Bijoy Express' which would pass just before sunset if on time. Of course it wasn't and our trek back to the bridge proved to be a waste of time with the train being around an hour late.

It was now time to think about heading home and there were two options. The return of the Tista, for which we had been told at the booking office there were no seats, or the return of the ‘Mahua Commuter’ which was unreserved and YDM-4 hauled – yet we had seen the previous ‘commuter’ to Dhaka leave very very full.

2319 has delivered us back to Biman Bandar after an enjoyable journey from Mymensingh. 07/01/26

The ’commuter’ it was to be, and actually a great choice. Despite the train loosing a lot of time making most of the local stops, we had a bay and a window right at the front of the train and were able to enjoy the sounds of 2319, which according to our new enthusiast friend was ‘the best for speed up’- it was!
Arrival back in Dhaka was over an hour down, not helped by loosing another 45 minutes at Tongi Junction on the outskirts of the city waiting for several other higher priority trains to go ahead of us. We also got the news that both 2023 and 2025 were heading back to Mymensingh. At least one of them would ‘probably’ be there tomorrow.

Haulage Log
2922 (GT18) MG- 707 Tista Express; Biman Bandar – Mymensingh
2319 (YDM4)  MG- 44 Down Mahau Commuter; Mymensingh – Biman Bandar


Thursday 8th January:

Back for another go- MLW built YDM4 2403 crosses the Old Brahmaputra River with the 'Balaka Express' as a family bathes in the waters. 08/01/26
A sight for sore eyes as the crew prepare to breath life
into B12 2025, stabled at Mymensingh. 08/01/26
You guessed it, an early start to head back to Mymensingh! We had enjoyed the previous day, and with some more concrete news, maybe, on the B12 and unfinished business with our Brahmaputra bridge shot we had to give it a go.

We had got up a bit earlier, as we didn’t want to miss the B12 if it headed out again. Although we didn’t know it when making our plan that meant another YDM-4 for the journey, but with a late start from Dhaka the single line passes were clearly already in the bin and we lost time all the way, as did most of the other trains all day.
The sight that greeted us upon arrival was just what we wanted. The battered 2025 was sitting in prime position in one of the platforms shut down, but on a train. It was amazing that this thing could even work… clearly it’s continued use was not based on the body condition with missing engine room windows, holes in the front and seemingly random bits of welded metal keeping the thing together!

2922 leads the 'Tista Express' as it departs Mymensingh and works its way through the street scene. 08/01/26
A different angle on the 'Balaka 
Express', today taken from the rail
bridge overhead. 08/01/26

Now we just needed to work out what the thing, with its empty ballast train was going to do. The ideal option would be to stick around for a bit, fill up with ballast once the sun had come round and then depart to the north, but these things are never simple. The crew quickly emerged, fired the loco up and announced that it would be moving a couple of stations up the line imminently- just after the ‘Tista’. Good thing we weren’t on that then.
We found a nice position and waited it out. After the late pass of the ‘Tista’ we waited. And waited, and eventually concluded the train wasn’t coming. We were correct. Back at the station it was shut down, and the crew informed us they would be going nowhere today. Still- we couldn’t have asked for it to be parked in a better position, and as the day work on the sun angle would only improve.

We spent the rest of the day repeating what we had already done the day before, now knowing where we needed to be and when. There are a good number of YDM4’s here. Far more than we were expecting, and today we did successfully achieve the bridge shot, though did also repeat the fruitless evening move to the bridge for the 'Bijoy express' to again be late and bring us absolutely no joy at all!

For our return we took the ‘Tista’, with the possible error of not having reserved seats (had there been any anyway). This caused a bit of a nuisance on board but the attendant was able to sell us some seats and find us some chairs in a reserved coach. This caused a bit of a riot when the occupiers of those seats (without reservations) were chucked out.

2025, now shut down for the day with its ballast train at Mymensingh. Capturing one of the two serviceable B12's was certainly a highlight of the trip. 08/01/26

Arrival back in Dhaka was late. Late enough that getting a proper sit down dinner became a bit of a mission. More so when the restaurant we wanted didn’t exist.
Eventually a hotel came to the rescue and directed us to a very nice local restaurant where we spent next to nothing on a delicious biryani.


Haulage Log
2318 (YDM4) MG- 47 Dewanganj Commuter; Biman Bandar – Mymensingh
2922 (GT18) MG- 708 Tista Express; Mymensingh – a signal somewhere just outside Biman Bandar and slightly nearer our hotel! 


Friday 9th January:

2933 on the meter gauge tracks of Tongi Bridge. 09/01/26
6639 on the broad gauge tracks of Tongi Bridge. 09/01/26

Having returned to Mymensingh yesterday todays options were to head east to Akhura Junction on the line to Chittagong, or to spend another day in Dhaka. With our flight home tonight the latter won out, and we started the day by heading to Tongi Bazar, a short CNG ride north of where we were staying. We had seen some good pictures here, but the position of the stalls today meant there weren’t an awful lot of good angles. Before long we had photographed a few trains of both gauges on the bridge and a very claggy MLW 1401  passing through the market stalls- and with that felt that really, we were done.

The light was much better than on Monday and what we were lacking from the trip were broad gauge Alcos- so we resolved to head back to Dhaka Kamlapur and re-do our shot south of the station from Monday. Fortunately a train did appear when we needed it, and pleasingly it was another of those, clearly not so unusual, YDM4’s! We even had a very nice impromptu photo stop on the final approach where the train stopped in an excellent position with plenty of time to hop down onto the ballast for a picture before jumping back on as it set off- now you wouldn’t do that in the UK!

2411, complete with some loco-riders makes its presence known as it powers through Tongi Market 09/01/26
Broad Gauge Alcos, 6515 and 6523 are swapped at Dhaka Kamlapur station. 6623 would take forward the 'Rajshahi Express'. 09/01/26
1503 waits between shunting duties. 09/01/26

The broad gauge Alco was nowhere to be seen, perhaps hours late, perhaps it didn’t run today, but we did at least capture yet another YDM4 in the shape of 1307 on the Narayanganj train. With little else to do it was decided to head back to the bridge at Tongi for the remainder of the afternoon. Luckily our arrival back at the station was met with the arrival of 1315, a broad gauge Alco. I realised this was on the ‘always late’ train 99 from Joydebpur and had it on good authority that it simply runs around and heads north again as train 5 the 'Rajshahi Express' soon as it is ready. Here was the chance to have a ride behind one of these beasts, and sure enough, after a loco swap to 1323, a ride was enjoyed from the front door. These Alcos are so powerful that it unfortunately never really got going on load 5, but it was a tick in the box either way.

Back at our crossing from day one, but with better light and bigger trains! 6612 brings a broad gauge service into the city. 09/01/26

6509 brings another Alco powered broad gauge train into
Biman Bandar and onwards to Dhaka. 09/01/26
From Biman Bandar it was a rickshaw ride to Tongi, the poor vehicles battery eventually giving up on the gradient up to the river on approach. Unfortunately this cost us the few seconds what would have netted a nice picture of a freight train- but who was to know!

We then had a bit of a pause in train heading south (for the light) but did manage what we wanted eventually- a great scene of humanity all over the tracks and train.

Our final shot completed, it was time for a de-rance at the hotel before heading back into town to pick up my suite! (you had forgotten about that hadn’t you!). This proved to be a bit of a mission as an accident had caused the already gridlocked roads to be almost impassable. We spent over an hour in the car do cover little over a mile.
Suits picked up, it was looking dicey for dinner in town before the plane, so we ended up heading back to the hotel and eating there. It was pretty good food to be fair.

2913 is seem moments away from the ideal location, with a freight train which has just passed over the Tongi Bridge. 09/01/2026

Dhaka airport is, as you would expect, fairly chaotic. Having arrived in good time we were among the first passengers to be told that our flight was late, and we would now miss our connection in Jeddah. Oh. The new move was to be re-booked for the following day, this time with Emirates, and put up in a hotel overnight by the airline. Not ideal by any means but what can you do. It wasn’t handled badly and we were in our new hotel by about 0100. The new hotel was clearly much more luxurious than were we had been staying, but the staff would not leave us alone and could not get their heads around what time we would need to depart for an 0100 flight the following day! After finally accepting at around 0200 that we did NOT want room service, a decent nights sleep ensued. Now what to do with our ‘extra day’?

Haulage Log
2301 (YDM4) MG- 56 Vawal Express; Biman Bandar – Dhaka K
6523 (WDM3) BG- 5 Rajshahi Express; Dhaka K – Biman Bandar

Saturday 10th January:

GT38 3019 is seen heading south form Akhura with the 'Sonar Bangla Express' towards Chittagong. 10/01/26

There was an obvious choice for the last day- our much anticipated trip to Akhura Junction, which had been planned but abandoned.

An early start got us there in relative comfort, but it was soon very obvious that all of the trains were late and this would cost us a good number of pictures.

Our first photos were all of the new 3000 class, before we found another YDM4 on depot and then headed to the significant river bridge for some more rural scenes.

2718 crosses the Titas river bridge with the 'Kharnapuli
Express' from Chittagong to Dhaka. 10/01/26

We had a nice shot set up for our 'favourite' train, the good old 'Bijoy' express, much earlier in its journey than at Mymensingh, but alas, its reliability let us down again, and by the time that the train passed us over 2 hours late, it had comprehensively clouded over. This left a bit of disappointment for our final day, especially as after the weather closed in, plenty of trains turned up, including seeing 2700’s in both directions, which we now know were booked to work the **** train and even the much sought after freight traffic with a container train both ways. More was to come however when we discovered that the train home which we absolutely needed to be on was completely wedged. The usual appeal of some notes to upgrade yielded no results, and therefore we packed onto what must have been one of the busiest trains we had seen.

The 'Bijoy Express' lets us down again with late running and is seen with 2919 leading over the Titas river bridge at Akhaura. 10/01/26

Despite delays earlier in the day, this train had actually left almost right time, and arrival back in Dhaka wasn’t far off either, and we were pleased to get off this packed train. The hotel was to drive us to the airport, but much to their distain we chose to get out of the taxi at the back of the queue to the drop off area- it was going to be much quicker to walk than sit in that bumper to bumper traffic to get the ramp to departures.

2613 is looped in the station at Akhaura while working a containerised freight service from Dhaka to Chittagong- this is one of the main flows of rail freight in the country. 10/01/26

Having got through Dhaka airport with the unwanted help of some sort of porter, who I subsequently ‘insulted’ with a 30 taka tip, the flight home with Emirates was pleasant and without issue, concluding what had turned out to be a very good trip. 

Haulage Log
3020 (GT38) MG- 709 Parabat Express; Biman Bandar – Akhaura
2920 (GT18) 721 Mohanagar Express; Akhaura – Biman Bandar

Conclusions:

YDM4 1307 shortly after departing from Dhaka Kamlapur with a service to Narayanganj. 09.01.26

From questioning my sanity at the beginning week of why we take 15 hour flights to far-off unfamiliar countries in pursuit of this hobby, by the end of the week it is fair to say that I had an excellent time in Bangladesh, and I had a decent photo haul to back it up.

The relationship between trains and people in this country is something totally crazy that has to be seen to be believed. I certainly don't expect to be travelling on any train roofs again any time soon! There is also plenty of different traction, and while much of it is GM-powered, the GT18's are attractive to photograph and there is plenty to keep one busy. An unexpected bonus was the number of MLW 'YDM4's locomotives seen on the trip. We had expected these to be in fairly scarce supply based on other recent reports, but on the meter gauge out of Dhaka there were plenty to be enjoyed. As with India these locos remain firm favourites, and it was great to be able to include them in some of the best shots of the trip as well as to get some long distance rides behind them. 
2933 passes a mass of humanity as it progresses through the Dhaka suburbs at Tongi. The line here is being quadrupled, including the building of a new river bridge. The lines to the left are yet to be commissioned, for which there appears to be no hurry. 09/01/26

Henschel 2710 enters the Titas bridge as it heads
towards Akhura and Chittagong. 10/01/26
A pleasant surprise also was the amount of hassle we received while lineside and on stations. Having expected this to be even more intense than India, I am pleased to say that it was not, and despite adopting the persona of 'Brother Selfie' as the week went on, virtually all of our interactions with the Bangladeshi people were pleasant, and even those begging offered little in the way of any threat. A good number of people spoke good English, many wanting to practise it and it was not uncommon to find that as well as attracting a crowd, benches would appear for you to sit on while waiting for trains. Clearly we stood out, but while making train journeys there were long periods of being left alone, again a positive over India where this simply wasn't possible. 

All in all, if you are into outlandish countries and their railways, Bangladesh comes recommended. Travelling at this time of year, away from the heat (I actually needed a jumper on several occasions) also makes the whole thing rather more palatable. 

Thanks is due to Rob for eventually agreeing to come on the trip, and various others who offered some assistance along the way; Vic Lines, Mark Torkington, Rakin from Mymensingh and probably a few others. 
Little and large, Broad Gauge and Meter Gauge trains stand on parallel tracks at Dhaka Kamlapur as they are illuminated by the run-around of the broad gauge loco. 05/01/26

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