Dr. Muhammad Mahtab Hossain Mazed

Today Wednesday is Railway Day 2023. On November 15, 1862, Bangladesh entered the railway era with the establishment of a 53 km broad gauge railway from Chuadanga Darshana to Kushtia Jagati.

In the 19th century, various railway companies in England began to open small sections of railway in different provinces of India. Initially railways were started only for economic purposes. The company called Eastern Bengal Railway established the first railway in Bangladesh.

To commemorate this historic day, the Ministry of Railways and Bangladesh Railway have been celebrating Railway Day since 2020.

The government has increased investment in the development of Bangladesh Railways. A separate ministry was formed in 2011 with emphasis on railways. On December 4, 2011, the Ministry of Communications was dissolved and a new Ministry of Railways was formed. Suranjit Sengupta became the first minister in charge of the ministry. Then in 2012, Mujibul Haque Mujib got the responsibility of this ministry. Nurul Islam Sujan got a new responsibility in 2019.

There are 2 railway divisions under the Government of Bangladesh: Western Region (1. Rangpur Division, 2. Rajshahi Division, 3. Khulna Division, 4. Faridpur Division) and Eastern Region (1. Sylhet Division, 2. Chittagong Division, 3. Dhaka Division, 4. Mymensingh Division).

There are two General Managers for these two regions, East and West, assisted by various specialized departments, who are responsible for operations, maintenance and financial management.

There are also railway factories at Pahartali in the eastern region and Syedpur in the western region under two divisional supervisors. Again, Parvatipur has a Central Locomotive Factory (Keloka) under the control of the Chief Executive for general overhauling of broad-gauge and metre-gauge locomotives. Even though rail accidents have come down to one-third, major accidents are not being stopped. Most of the accidents occur due to faults in railway tracks or negligence of motorists at railway crossings. The number of casualties in these accidents is comparatively less. However, major accidents are happening due to the negligence of railway workersRecently on Monday afternoon on October 23, two trains collided head-on in Kishoreganj's Bhairab, at Jagannathpur rail crossing area of Kisherganj, between Antanagar Egarosindur Express train and a freight train. In the accident, some coaches of Egarosindur Express overturned with passengers. The railway authorities said that the accident happened because the freight train did not obey the signal. So far 18 people have been confirmed dead in this accident. However, the number of casualties was more than 100. Eyewitnesses said that it may increase.

> Accidents due to complexity of signalling. Railway officials initially believe that the collision between the passenger and goods train at Bhairab in Kishoreganj may be due to signaling complications. In this regard, Acting General Manager (East) of Railways, Mohammad Nazmul Islam, said that preliminary investigation revealed that the accident occurred due to the freight train disobeying the signal. He said that more details will be known laterIn this regard, Kamalapur Railway Station Manager Masud Sarwar said, "A container train from Dhaka was entering Bhairav station. Moments before that, eleven Sindh trains from Bhairav were coming towards Dhaka. The engine of the container train hit the last two-three compartments of the Egar Sindh train at the Jagannathpur rail crossing area. This happens mainly due to some complication in signaling. Since this incident, train services between Dhaka, Chittagong and Sylhet have been stopped. Sending relief train for rescue work. He said that the train movement will be normal after the rescue work is completed.

Rail is known as the safest mode of transportation all over the world. Although railways in Bangladesh are safer than roads or waterways, accidents that cause loss of life and property are constantly taking place on railways.

> Number of accidents :- From 2018 to 23 October 2023, 1 thousand 345 people died in railway accidents. Another 1 thousand 302 people were injured. During this time, 1 thousand 116 railway accidents occurred.

Railway officials said that derailment is a major cause of rail accidents. It has less casualties. Most of the fatalities are due to train collisions with other trains or accidents at railway crossingsAccording to the Annual Report on Railway Accidents-2019, 421 persons including 89 women and 46 children were killed and 366 persons including four women and 33 children were injured in 393 railway accidents. According to Bangladesh Passenger Welfare Association, 469 people were killed and 706 injured in 482 railway accidents in 2019. 254 people were killed and 42 injured in 270 railway accidents in 2021. In Bangladesh, train derailment is the most common cause of rail accidents and most people die in collisions between trains and other vehicles at unprotected railway crossings. Let us see what is the role of structural problems behind these accidents.

In the ten years from 2008-09 to 2017-18, a total of 2,428 accidents have occurred, of which 2,155 derailment accidents are 89 percent of the total accidents.

> Risky Railways: It can be seen from Bangladesh Railway Information Book 2018, a total of 2 thousand 428 accidents occurred in the ten years from 2008-09 to 2017-18, of which 2 thousand 155 accidents were derailed which is 89 percent of the total accidents. And the factors responsible for train derailment accidents include faulty railways, mechanical problems of engines or coaches, signal system problems, various types of human errors and disobedience of rules etc. According to newspaper reports, Bangladesh has the highest cost per kilometer of railway construction compared to developed countries in the world. The ruling government has spent around 64 thousand crore rupees on railway development in 14 years. As much as there is enthusiasm for taking up high-cost railway construction projects, there is disincentive to rehabilitate existing railways and railway bridges. As a result, there are 739 km of quality railway lines across the country, which is only 25.23 percent of the total railway lines. 402 railway bridges are vulnerable. Railway lines are vulnerable due to shortage of stones on the line, theft of rail clips and nut-bolts due to lack of provision and parts needed to repair shaky tracks. Along with the vulnerable railway, 195 out of 278 engines and 900 out of 1,656 coaches have ended their lives. Also, their repair and maintenance work is not done properly. According to newspaper reports, 20 percent of coaches in Eastern Railway are running without annual inspection and maintenance. This work is not being done due to lack of manpower and shortage of carriages. On the other hand, 12 percent of meter gauge and 8 percent of broad gauge compartments are not repaired on time in the western region. Again, when a passenger train reaches its destination, its engines and coaches are inspected for 45 minutes. At this time, the compartment should be washed and checked. But this work is not given much importance. Apart from this, there is a rule of day-long testing of the buggy by taking it to the repair factory every three months. After a year, it is said to repair by taking a major test at the factory. There is also allocation for these. But regular maintenance is not done properly.

> As an accident
Railway officials said the accident took place outside Bhairav station, which has multiple line pairs. Here the train goes from one line to another line. As a result, there was a fear of a head-on collision between the two trains. It could have been a bigger disaster.

Sources associated with the railway management say that there is no chance for two trains to come on the same line or at the intersection of multiple lines. In this case, if the station master does not signal the freight train to stop at the outer, an accident may occur. A station's outer is a place where trains are kept waiting. Red light signal (signal) of train stopping in outer area is lit in advance to give space to another train.

On the other hand, an accident occurs when the driver does not obey the stop signal. Initially, the railway authorities observed that the driver of the freight train ignored the stop signal and drove the train at high speed and rammed the Egarsindu train.

Fire service personnel are busy with rescue work. Monday afternoon at the outer point of Bhairav railway station
Fire service personnel are busy with rescue work.
Nazmul Islam, who is in charge of the manager (GM) of the eastern region of the railway, said that the driver did not obey the signal and left. However, two committees of inquiry have been formed. The report has been asked to be submitted within the next three days. Get the report to get the full picture. Then appropriate action will be taken. The driver, assistant driver and conductor (guard) of the freight train have been suspended.

According to railway officials and eyewitnesses, the Egarsindu train was coming from Bhairav railway station on its way to Dhaka. And the freight train was going towards Bhairav station. At the time of the accident, the Egarsindu train was moving from one line to another line. The Egarsindu train crossed the line change point and passed 11 coaches. But the freight train coming from the opposite direction hit the last three coaches of Egarsindur.

Railway officials say, if the driver disobeys the signal, in that case, everything should be clear from a distance in Hemant afternoon. That is, seeing that there is another train on the same line, it could have slowed down and stopped. Why it was not done is also a question.

Railway authorities have obtained two videos of the time of the accident. It can be seen that the freight train was honking loudly when it saw the train in front. Its speed was still high. But later it slowed down a bit before hitting the passenger train.

> Identification of casualties
70 of the injured persons were brought to Bhairab Upazila Health Complex. 21 of them were sent to different hospitals including Dhaka. At least 30 others were taken to other hospitals. The death toll is expected to rise further. 15 of the dead have been identified. Among them there are four people in one family. They are Sujan Mia (35), his wife Fatema Begum (30), their two sons Sajib Mia (14) and Ismail Mia (10) of Nandail Upazila, Mymensingh. The other 11 are Achir Uddin (30) of Darigaon village in Bajitpur upazila of Kishoreganj, Rasel Mia (21) of Ghagra village in Mithamin upazila, Simon Mia (26) of Chanpur village, Subodh Sheel (45) of Tinpatti area of Bhairab town, treasurer of Bhairab Youth Development Office. Jalal Ahmed, student of Dhaka College Bhairab RadhanagarAfzal Hossain (23) of village, Sabuj Chandra Sheel (50) of Ranirbazar, Rabbi Mia of Srinagar, Hosna Akter of Merenga village of Nandail Upazila of Mymensingh, Imarul Kabir (22) of Lakshmipur of Kuliarchar Upazila and Nizam Uddin Sarkar of Barichhara area of Sarail Upazila of Brahmanbaria.
> Rescue operations
After the accident, the people of Jagannathpur area near Bhairav railway station came forward to rescue. The hawkers of the station also participated in the rescue operation. Basically they took the injured people out of the coach and sent them to the hospital. Later members of Fire Service, Police, RAB, DB Police and Youth Red Crescent came and took out the body inside the coach.

Jahid Hasan, an eyewitness and involved in the rescue work, said, "After hearing loud noises and people's screams, I thought there might have been a train accident." Come and see the terrible situation. The sound of many people shouting is coming from inside. Many are scattered outside. Blood is pouring from everyone's body.

Kishoreganj Deputy Commissioner (DC) Abul Kalam Azad, Police Superintendent Md. Russel Sheikh, Bhairab Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) Sadikur Rahman, Company Commander of RAB-14 Bhairab Camp. Ali Akkas came to the spot. DC Abul Kalam Azad said that members of several teams are working in the rescue. Financial assistance of 25 thousand taka will be given to the family members of the deceasedLater, local member of parliament Nazmul Hasan visited the spot.

Now the question is that the collision of one train with another train is not the first in Bangladesh. On April 17, 2023, Sonar Bangla Express hit a freight train from behind at Comilla's Hasanpur station on Sunday evening. It overturned a few carriages of the train. At least fifty passengers were injured.
A Sonar Bangla Express of the country's fastest train was coming from Chittagong to Dhaka. Hasanpur railway station of Nangalkot upazila before Comilla city on the wayEyewitnesses said that the high-speed Sonar Bangla Express train left the main line and entered the loop line due to a 'wrong' signal. At that time, Sonar Bangla Express hit the freight train standing there and fell on top of it. Its five compartments fell down. On December 8, 2010, two trains – Godhuli and Chatla – collided head-on at Narsindi as the driver of the Chatla failed to signal. In the railway investigation report, it was said that the driver fainted after drinking tea at Bhairav station, or the incident of disobeying this signal happened59 Whether the driver is unconscious, sleepy or negligent, the question is why do similar accidents happen a second time? So far, why monitoring of drivers while running trains, modern communication system between stations and trains or automatic train stopping system has not been introduced?

> Unprotected level crossings: Train derailment is the most common cause of rail accidents and the highest number of deaths are due to collisions between trains and other vehicles at unprotected level crossings. According to Railways, a total of 868 accidents took place across the country from 2014 to June 2019. 111 people lost their lives in these accidents. 96 accidents occurred at level crossings. 99 people lost their lives in these accidents. Almost all of them are passengers of buses, microbuses and small vehicles crossing the crossing. Railway authorities do not keep track of the number of pedestrians who have lost their lives while crossing railway crossings. As per railways, there are 2574 railway crossings across the country. Among them, 1 thousand 468 approved railway crossings. That means 43 percent crossings are illegal. To say sanctioned, the concerned organization has taken the approval of the railway while constructing the road over the railway line. Permission is granted only after paying 10 years maintenance cost after construction of barriers and infrastructure and staffing of crossings. Consequently it is the responsibility of the Railways to secure the authorized crossing. However, only 564 crossings are equipped with barriers, guards and information on train movement. In other words, the remaining 904 valid crossings do not have any protection. Railway authorities are solving the responsibility by hanging warning signboards at these crossings. As a result, frequent accidents occur that are easily preventable.

According to railway data, the total number of railway crossings across the country is 2,574. Among them, 1 thousand 468 are not approved. That means 43 percent crossings are illegal. To say sanctioned, the concerned organization has taken the approval of the railway while constructing the road over the railway line. And most of these crossings are on Local Government Engineering Department (LGED) roads. There are also Municipalities, Union Parishads, City Corporations and Roads and Public Ways (Soaz) roads. In all, 82 percent of the country's railway crossings are unprotected. Railway sources said that 85 percent of the deaths in railway accidents are at railway crossings. However, the railway authorities do not keep track of deaths due to cuts on railway lines. Head-on collisions, derailments, collision of one train with another train, crushing of a train at a railway crossing—these are considered as accidents.

According to railway documents, the railways has spent Rs 196 crore since 2015 to make railway crossings safer. Under the two projects, 702 railway crossings have been developed in the eastern and western sections of the railway. 1 thousand 532 guards have been appointed under this. Rail crossing developments include the installation of barriers and the construction of guard houses. Even then the railway crossing was not safe.

The construction of flyovers over railway lines has been under discussion for more than a century. Souz built a few highway flyovers. In others, the organizations are not able to decide who will build the flyover. As a result, it remains vulnerable.

Earlier on December 8, 2010, 13 people including the driver Zahir Mia were killed in a head-on collision between a Chittagong-bound Godhuli and a Dhaka-bound Chatla at Narsingdi. The accident occurred due to the failure of the driver of the chattel to signal.

Dhaka, Chittagong, Sylhet and Mymensingh Divisions comprise the eastern section of the railway. Passenger traffic is high in this region. The Western Region of Railways consists of the districts on the western bank of the Padma River.

According to a statistic of the general manager's office of the eastern region, there were 204 accidents in 2010. 165 accidents occurred in 2011, 138 in 2012, 167 in 2013 and 147 in 2014. Although the accident rate decreased in 2013 and 2014, accidents due to vandalism increased. At that time there was unrest in the country.

According to railway sources, the accidents decreased in 2015 when stability returned to the country. Eastern region recorded 88 accidents that year, 67 in 2016, 71 in 2017 and 72 in 2018. And 50 accidents occurred in 9 months till September 30, 2019. Sources from the office of the Director General of Eastern Railway said that 15 people died in 88 railway accidents in 2015. 19 people died in 147 accidents in 2014. Exact figures for the 2016 and 2017 accident deaths were not immediately available. However, most of the fatalities in Eastern Railway accidents have occurred at level crossings. The inquiry committee formed by the railway authorities after preliminary inquiry blamed the negligence of the drivers. After 28 medium-sized accidents at railway crossings in two years, a review of the investigation report by the railway authorities found that the railway inquiry committee held drivers responsible for 25 of the accidents. Gateman has been blamed for only one accident.

Finally, I would like to say that all the structural reasons that can be seen in the analysis of various accidents that occur regularly in Bangladesh, tragic accidents happen again and again, most of the reasons should be known to the concerned authorities, and if certain steps are taken, it is possible to reduce the rate of those accidents to a large extent. But due to various reasons, accidents happen due to not taking these very necessary steps. In many cases, it is seen that it is profitable for various groups to continue the existing flawed system, as a result of which the influence of these groups creates obstacles in the way of solving the structural problems. Again, the additional investment that has to be made for accident prevention and risk management is profitable for the concerned organization in the long run, but many do not want to make this investment considering the immediate profit and loss. And that is why the institutional supervision of the regulatory authorities is very important in this regard. An organization has no incentive to invest in accident prevention if it sees no penalties or compensation for accidents. On the other hand, if an accident occurs, all those concerned are punished and compensated for it by uncovering various structural factors underlying the accident through its thorough investigation, then those institutions are forced to take all kinds of precautionary measures to prevent accidents.

The writer is a, columnist and researcher Founder and Chairman,Jatiya Rogi Kallyan Society