Nor\\\'wester & train accident

The recent train accident on the Jamuna Bridge is an eye opener for many of us though Nor'wester has been blamed for toppling nine compartments of Dinajpur bound broad-gauge train. It is very difficult to believe that train compartments, carrying passengers and goods, could be toppled by an ordinary gale.

During the last three months, several incidents of derailment occurred and it is normal in the context of railway services now. One can easily observe, without being an expert of railway tracks, the conditions like alignment, clip fittings, boulders quantity etc. of the railway lines. Blaming the natural gale is now tenable. But I believe the authority should ask experts of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) to prepare a modelling analysis of probability of this type of accidents as happened on Jamuna Bridge. The South Korean prime minister has just resigned due to recent ferry disaster. It is expected that the railway minister, taking help from the BUET experts in finding the causes of such accidents, must use his authority in punishing irresponsible railway maintenance employees.

Mahmud Ali

New Eskaton Road

Dhaka