Derailment In Tangail: Thousands suffer as train schedule goes haywire

The train schedule for Dhaka and north-western districts virtually collapsed yesterday after an intercity train derailed in Tangail on Monday night.

Passengers had to wait four to 10 hours as almost all trains from the west zone of Bangladesh Railway arrived in Dhaka behind schedule yesterday, said BR staffers and officials.

People heading for Chattogram and Cox's Bazar also suffered as BR was struggling to get the schedules back on track even two days after another train derailment in Cumilla on Sunday.

Railway authorities said it will take two to three more days for them to get the timings back to normal.

A carriage of Dhaka-bound Panchagarh Express derailed at the east side of the approach line of Bangabandhu Bridge around 9:00pm on Monday, snapping rail operations for over five hours.

Train services on the vital line, which connects Dhaka with north-western districts, resumed around 2:20am yesterday.

The Panchagarh Express reached Dhaka at 8:30am, sources said. The train left Dhaka at 9:50pm on Monday, 10 hours and 20 minutes behind schedule, they said.

Chilahati-bound Nilsagar Express left Dhaka at 11:00am, 4 hours and 15 minutes behind schedule; Rajshahi-bound Dhumketu Express left at 10:40am, four hours and 40 minutes behind schedule; and Panchagarh-bound Ekota Express 1:15pm, three hours behind the schedule.

Chapainawabganj-bound Banalata Express was supposed to leave Dhaka at 1:30pm yesterday. But the train did not reach Dhaka till 2:20pm when this correspondent talked to a passenger of the train.

"I came here from Mirpur at 12:30pm with my ailing aunt. But we are not sure when the train will reach," Rafiqul Islam said.

The train reached Dhaka at 2:45pm.

Like Rafiqul, several hundred other passengers were seen waiting for trains at the Kamalapur Railway Station yesterday.

Another Chapainawabganj-bound train, Rajshahi Commuter, was supposed to leave the capital at 12:20pm but it did not reach Dhaka till 3:15pm.

Rajshahi-bound Silk City Express was supposed to leave Dhaka at 2:40pm but railway authorities rescheduled it to 6:40pm.

Contacted, Asim Kumar Talukder, general manager (west) of BR, said they were trying to solve the problems but it would take two to three days to bring the situation to normal.

Meanwhile, BR yesterday continued its attempts to repair the rail track which was damaged following the derailment of nine carriages of Bijoy Express on Sunday near Hasanpur Railway Station in Cumilla's Nangalkot.

Currently, BR is operating trains using a single line in this area and that is why most of trains between Dhaka and Chattogram and Cox's Bazar are one to one and a half hours behind schedule, Saiful Islam, divisional railway manager (Chattogram), said.

"We hope that the repair work will be completed within tomorrow [today] and the rail operations will be normal within two days," he told The Daily Star yesterday.

BR currently operates 367 passenger and 42 freight trains daily.