Rail tracks in bad shape, journey becoming risky in 8 N dists

A portion of a railway track without boulders and slippers and a signal without light in the Lalmonirhat-Burimari route.. PHOTO: STAR

Hardly a month goes without at least one train accident. At least 72 incidents of derailment took place in Lalmonirhat-Burimari, Teesta-Ramna and Parbotipur-Thakurgoan routes in the last 11 months, according to sources at Lalmonirhat Divisional Office of Bangladesh Railway (BR).

Goods trains derail more frequently than passenger trains.

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The tracks are now so weak that they cannot bear the weight of bogies let alone passengers and goods, the sources said.

As train journey in the routes has become tedious, risky and time-consuming, the number of passengers is decreasing alarmingly, they said.

Though bus journey is more risky and costlier than train journey, people now prefer the former.

Passengers often ridicule the service because of very low speed of trains. "The highest speed of any train in the routes now is 25 km per hour and the lowest 15," said train driver Abdus Salam while talking to this correspondent.

Often, people in areas near tracks instead of going to stations just walk from homes and hop into a compartment of a running train, he said jokingly.

Salam said they are supposed to drive trains at least at 45 km per hour but even an experienced driver cannot do so due to the miserablecondition of tracks.

In most areas, there are no boulders and slippers can not bear the load of trains. At several points signal lights are either defective or absent.

In the wake of continuous loss, BR leased out several passenger trains, both local and mail, on Lalmonirhat-Pathgram and Parbotipur-Thakurgoan routes to Islam Ship Builders and Heavy Engineering, a private company, some years ago.

BR agreed to provide the company with all logistics and technical support to run leased passenger trains under its management.

BR earned a good profit from the private company, but it paid less attention to repair of tracks or signaling system, Manjural Islam, proprietor of the company alleged.

A highly placed BR official seeking unanimity said proposals were sent to the BR headquarters and to the communication ministry from Lalmonirhat Divisional Office several times for repair of the damaged parts of tracks but to no effect.

At least Tk 50 crore is needed to repair the rail lines on the routes, he added.