Eid Journey Home: Not so bad on rails, rough on roads

Holidaymakers who began travelling on advance train tickets yesterday left for home hassle free as most of the trains, except the ones in morning hours, departed from Dhaka on time. 

Five trains scheduled for around 8:30am were delayed for one to two hours due to damage to one railway track in Dhaka Cantonment Station area. The rail line was restored nearly two hours later.

Passengers travelling by buses, however, suffered immensely on Dhaka-Tangail highway, as vehicles moved slowly on battered roads and due to a huge pressure of vehicles compounded by Saturday night's heavy rain.    

Travellers to 19 south-western districts have been suffering at Paturia and Daulatdia ferry ghats for the last two days as ferry services are hampered for strong currents of the Padma river and a shortage of ferries.

Cattle-laden trucks have remained stranded for three days at Daulatdia ghat under Goalunda upazila of Rajbari district. Until yesterday evening, more than 600 vehicles including 400 trucks were seen lined up on Daulatdia side waiting for ferry to cross the river.

Following excessive rains and floods twice in just four months, the journey home for millions of holidaymakers before the Eid-ul-Azha, to be celebrated on September 2, is likely to be rough and long as the condition of a large part of the country's national and regional highways is appalling.

The situation might get worse if it rains in the days leading up to the Eid, according to bus operators.

Against the backdrop, Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader yesterday instructed engineers of the Roads and Highways Division to fix damaged roads in Khulna division within 24 hours.

After a meeting with executive engineers of the Highways Division of Khulna at Jessore Circuit House, he said roads and highways should be repaired to ease the journey of Eid holidaymakers. 

“There should be no excuses,” the minister warned.

RAIL LINE DAMAGED

Five trains including Nil Shagor Express, Ekota Express and Agnibina Express were delayed due to the damage in the cantonment rail line area, said Kamalapur Railway Station Manager Sitangshu Chakraborty.

Due to the damage to one track, all the trains were running on another track, he said. "We are sorry for the disruption."

All other trains left Kamalapur on time, Sitangshu said.

These trains carried the first Eid travellers who bought tickets on August 16, the day the railway authority began selling advance tickets.

The manager also said a total of 63 trains were scheduled to travel from Dhaka.

Md Towfiq, a student of Dhaka University, said his train, Ekota Express, was scheduled to depart at 10:00am, but it arrived an hour later.

"Things will be fine when I reach home,” said an exuberant Towfiq.

SUFFERINGS ON DHAKA-TANGAIL HIGHWAY

The sufferings of bus travellers began following the downpour on Saturday night. A 50-kilometre tailback stretching from Chandra of Gazipur to Elenga in Tangail was created following the rains, reports our Tangail correspondent.

Vehicles started moving slowly yesterday morning, but got stuck at several points.

"Our bus was stuck at minimum 12 points including Chandra, Dherua Rail Crossing, Hatubhanga Bus Stand, Mirzapur Bypass, and Elenga," said Masum Ahmed, a passenger of Bogra-bound bus from Dhaka.

"This is a regular phenomenon on this highway before and after Eid no matter what the authorities say.”

Khalilur Rahman Patwari, officer-in-charge of Gorai Highway Police Station, told The Daily Star that potholes and huge rush of Dhaka-bound trucks loaded with sacrificial animals from North Bengal were the main reasons for the situation.

The work to expand the highway to four lanes is also to be blamed, he added.

Ahad Miah, driver of a Rajshahi-bound bus, said he had struggled hard to drive in the Tangail part of the highway because of numerous potholes, which was why it took two to three more hours.

Abdul Hakim, a sub-divisional engineer of the highways division in Tangail, said the authority had been repairing roads round the clock for the last few months, but the heavy rains hampered the works.

"Our teams are active at different points of the highway and are immediately fixing the new damages."

TRAIN SERVICES RESUMED

Train services between Dinajpur and other districts resumed yesterday after suspension for 14 days due to floodwater. 

The railway authority had suspended its services in Dinajpur, Thakurgaon and Panchagarh with other districts after tracks between Dinajpur and Parbatipur upazilas went under floodwater on the night of August 13, said Golam Mostafa, station superintendent of Dinajpur.

Train services in Thakurgaon and Panchagarh will be restored after Eid festival, he said.

Around 16km out of 200km rail tracks was damaged. Tracks' bed and sleepers were washed away at several points.

Abdul Hanif, assistant engineer of Bangladesh Railway in Dinajpur, said they repaired rail tracks considering the Eid.

EID SPECIAL SERVICE LAUNCHED

Meanwhile, the authorities yesterday launched special services at Dhaka River Port. At least 24 more launches and six steamers would ply around Eid, said Ajmol Huda, deputy director of river safety and transportation of Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority.

"We think there will be no transport problem this year, thanks to the special services along with the regular ones," he added.