Bangladesh Railway

In 1971 Bangladesh became an independent nation and the current Pakistan Eastern Railway was renamed the Bangladesh Railway (BR). BR is a state-owned rail transport agency of Bangladesh, with a headquarters located in Dhaka, which operates and maintains the entire railway network of the country. It operates international, inter-city and suburban rail systems on a multi-gauge network, and provides various types of services ranging from shuttle services for university students to freight and cargo services. It also owns coach production facilities and manages its own Railway Training Academy. At the end of the year 2004-05, BR had a total of 454 railway stations.

BR is under the control of a Professional Director General supervised by the Bangladesh Railway Authority that is chaired by the Minister of Communications. BR is divided into two zones, East and West, each under the control of a General Manager who is accountable to the Director General of BR. The two zones have separate departments for operation, maintenance and finance. Each zone is divided into two divisions that contain departments for personnel, transportation, finance, mechanical etc. A separate directorate under the Ministry of Communications is charged to inspect different works of Bangladesh Railway in relation to safety.