Two persons were killed and 40 others received injuries when Dhaka-bound ‘Ekota Express’ from Dinajpur hit ‘Lalmoni Express’ and rammed over its locomotive engine at Ullahpara upazila railway station in Sirajganj district on early Sunday.The Lalmonirhat bound train was waiting in the station at about 4.15 am for departure but as it was not cleared for the start. In the meantime the Ekota Express came to enter the station using the same track and hit the waiting Lalmoni Express before it could figure out the accident. Three bogies of Ekota Express derailed at that time due to tremendous collision. The deceased have been identified as Altaf Hossain, 32, of Harispur village under Natore sadar upazila and Mujibor Rahman, 42, of Lalmanirhat.Ullahpara Upazila Nirbahi Officer [UNO] Md Shamim Alam said that the passengers Altaf and Majibar were killed on the spot receiving fatal injuries in the head and other body parts. Other injured passengers were rushed to Bogra Medical College and Hospital for emergency treatment, he said.Railway communication of Dhaka with North Bengal and Khulna remain suspended for hours following the accident. Later, a relief train from Ishwardi rushed to the spot to salvage the wreckage. After a hectic effort for about five hours, the halted rail link of North Bengal resumed with Dhaka and other parts of the country from 9:00am.When contacted, Director General of BR, Tofazzel Hossain told The New Nation yesterday, “Four inquiry committees have been formed to investigate into the accident. Of them, Bangladesh Railway [BR] Western Zone had formed two probe bodies including a 4-member committee led by chief operating superintendent of western zone Mia Jahan asking to submit report within three days. Besides, Pakshi divisional railway formed another committee.”On the other hand, a committee headed by ADC of Sirajganj has been formed while another probe committee has been constituted led by additional director general [infrastructures] under the auspices of railway ministry,” he said. Officials said three people have been suspended provisionally over train crash. They are Bankimchandra Roy, Driver of Ekota Express, Abdus safi, Assistant Driver and Kutub uddin, Assistant Station Master of Ullapara station.Meanwhile, the train accidents have increased nowadays in different parts of the country creating a panicky situation among the commuters. On January 8, Kishoreganj’s rail link with Dhaka was cut off after the engine of Nasirabad Express derailed near Halimpur Railway during a nationwide anti-polls hartal of the BNP-led 18-party alliance.Another train was derailed at Chelopara area of Bogra disrupting communication between Dhaka with five northern districts for several hours on January 11. A female was killed in train derailment in Siatkunda of Chittagong on April 7. Four people were killed and another one injured after a train rammed into a three wheeler in Sonatala upazila, Bogra on March 27. In Gaibandha five people were killed in an accident caused by derailment on December 5.Besides, two people have been crashed under the wheels of train in separate incidents at Mirsarai upazila in Chittagong on March 26. Two motorcyclists have been killed as a train hit their motorbike in Nasratpur rail crossing area of Shayestaganj on March 12.In this regard, the DG of BR said, ” The main reason behind the increasing train accident is poor condition of railway track. Especially, the condition of track between Akhaura to Laksham is very poor. Several accidents have taken palace in this area.”According to the BR figures, 99 coaches and 23 locomotives have met accidents because of removal of tracks and fishplates allegedly by opposition activists since November 25, 2013 the day the BNP-led alliance enforced blockade.In 2011-2012, there occurred a total of 154 train accidents where one was collision, 138 were derailments and 16 cases of trains running into obstructions. The number of accidents was 439 in 2009-10 where number of derailment was 403 and collisions were two. The country had witnessed highest number of 830 train accidents in 2005-2006. The second highest number of754 accidents had occurred in 2003-2004 and third highest number of 707 accidents had taken place in 2004-2005, according to BR.BR having a network of 2877.10 Km comprising of 659.33 km broad gauge, 1808.05 km meter gauge and 409.72 Km dual gauge plays a very vital role in the field of transport network.
