A joyous occasion suddenly turned into a great human tragedy when 11 persons were killed in an accident involving the Khulna-bound Simanta Express train and a bus carrying members of a wedding party Friday last at Kaliganj in Jhenidah. The train rammed into the bus at an unguarded level crossing. That 50 other passengers of the ill-fated bus survived was indeed a miracle. The bus got twisted as the train dragged it one kilometre from the spot of the accident. The bridegroom and the bride were, however, safe as their microbus crossed the level crossing minutes earlier. Of the two gatemen, one was reportedly sleeping when the accident occurred. On the same day, right at the heart of Dhaka city, three passengers of a private car were injured as a train hit their car at Malibagh level crossing. In another incident, also on the same day, a train from Kamalapur Railway Station hit a man when he was trying to cross the rail gate at Moghbazar. He died on the spot.
Both the Bangladesh Railway (BR) and the district administration instantly formed separate inquiry committees to probe the Jhenidah disaster. But recurrence of such man-made tragic incidents one after another has made it clear that the BR is least concerned about the need for improving its safety measures. Scores of inquiry committees were formed in the past but no visible improvement has so far been noticed. The BR has even failed to man the level crossings with efficient guards nor could it recruit gatemen for over 2,200 level crossings across the country.
There are allegations that the Local Government Engineering Department (LGED) and the Roads and Highways Department (RHD) built around 1,100 out of the total 2,541 level crossings without taking approval from the BR. It is also a matter of surprise that as against 40,000 sanctioned posts for gatemen and other personnel, the BR has only 25,000 in-service staff. Because of the lack of cooperation and coordination among government agencies a large number of level crossings remain unguarded, leading to greater risk of accidents.
In fact, this is a governance problem. Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, is one of the worst planned cities in the world. In most countries the railway tracks and the roads are well-separated. The best way of reducing the chances of accidents at level crossing is the construction of over-bridges. Besides, caution on the part of pedestrians and drivers of vehicles, while crossing rail tracks, can also reduce the number of accidents. There are signboards indicating the presence of rail tracks at almost every crossing. Even if there is no rail gate, a person should exercise caution while crossing a track.
The government must ensure necessary safety measure at the level-crossings - a step that can decrease the number of killings by a substantial margin. Sadly, the authorities prefer playing the blame game rather than solving the problem. Badly needed now are coordinated efforts of all related government agencies to reduce such man-made tragedies.
Reducing man-made tragedies on rail tracks
FE Team | Published: August 03, 2014 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2026 06:01:00
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