A FATAL train accident was narrowly averted in Tangail on Sunday dawn as locals from a nearby mosque stepped in to stop a train only few yards from a bridge partially destroyed by floodwater in the Kalihati Upazila of the district. Driver of the Dhaka-bound Nilsagar Express carrying around 2000 passengers saw red signals from a crowd and stopped it only to see that running floodwater has washed away soil at the other end of the bridge. The train backlogged to the nearest station and so many lives were saved.
Torrential rains and rising floodwater all over has severely damaged the railway communication network in the north and southwestern districts, besides damaging road communication at many points. As it is evident, Bangladesh Railway (BR) suspended train services between Dhaka and the affected districts.
Media reports however said the Railway authorities are scheduled to open the suspended railway services from yesterday but question remains how the authorities would make sure that bridges and railway sleepers are intact at all places that no surprise like the averted accident in Tangail is waiting for running trains anywhere. At Kalihati spot another train–Dhaka-bound Sundarban Express from Khulna passed just 50 minutes before when there was no such break on the bridgehead. It showed gushing floodwater is constantly at work to create new vulnerability destroying bridges and sleepers and even causing river bank erosion in most flood-hit areas.
It appears that train services to over a dozen districts were suspended during peak flood period. But as the Eid-ul-Azha is coming closer the government is under pressure to restore the railway links to northern and southwestern districts. We understand the pressure but passengers’ safety must be high on the card. A slight neglect may cause big accident that the Railway Authorities must keep in mind and operate the service. Our railway is very poorly managed transport system where money is wasted in corruption and misuse keeping aside the urgent repair and maintenance services and such other modernization and renovation work. Keeping railway lines properly functional is very difficult job and floods have made it more difficult. The vigilance must be high now to avoid accidents.
The century-old rail tracks, particularly the Railway bridges built in British and Pakistan era, are in risk at several hundred points across the country. The government has taken project to popularize the train service for common people as low cost transport system. Low cost service however should not mean less attention to safety. After receding floodwater; the railway lines may be more vulnerable to break down and accidents. It needs greater attention for safety now particularly during Eid period to avoid fatal accidents.
