UNB, Dhaka :Train services across the country have severely been affected due to the nonstop blockade enforced by the BNP-led 20-party alliance as well as fogy weather, inflicting sufferings on passengers.All trains were running behind the schedule, Bangladesh Railway (BR) officials said on Friday.Miscreants removed fishplates from rail tracks in Moulvibazar and Joypuraht early Thursday that led to the collapse of the train schedule.Besides, the trains were running at a slow speed as part of cautionary measures to avoid any unexpected accident during the blockade.”Trains on all the routes have been running behind the schedule due to the blockade and fog,” station manger of Kamalapur Railway Station Sitangshu Chakraborty told UNB on Friday.He said, Railway is operating trips with advance pilot (a loco which runs ahead of scheduled train) at night to avoid acts of sabotage. The Khulna-bound ‘Sundarbans Express’ was scheduled to depart the Kamalapur Railway Station at 6:20am, but it left the station at 9:30 am on Friday, Sohrab Hossain Bhuiyan, a passenger of the train, told UNB.Officials said ‘Ekota Express’, a train plying the Dhaka-Dinajpur route, was scheduled to reach Kamalapur station at 10am yesterday, but it came five hours later.Rangpur Express reached the station around 5 pm, after eight hours of its scheduled time.BR director (Traffic) Syed Zahurul Islam said Bangladesh Railway is facing huge pressure of passengers during the blockade as they do not prefer travelling by buses to avoid violence on roads.Due to the heavy pressure and also because of the existing fog in the winter, trains schedules have been delayed, he said.Zahurul also mentioned that BR station masters are receiving numerous phone calls about the removal of fishplates from the rail tracks. “But, when we visit the rail tracks, we find everything alright. They’ re trying to create panic.”The BR official said, the authorities are operating the trains with precautionary measures after the recent rail accident in Moulvibazar.Early Thursday, six compartments and the engine of the Chittagong-bound train ‘Udayan Express’ from Sylhet veered off the tracks near Tilagaon Railway Station in Kulaura after pickets removed the fishplates from 20-30 feet stretch of the tracks.
