Breakdown in journey schedules has come as a serious pain for the home-bound people as most of the transports - trains and buses -- made delayed departure on Saturday with the holidaymakers.
People, bound for their homes to celebrate the Eid-ul Fitr holiday, had to wait for 40 minutes to two hours to get into their respective transports on the day. The delay added extra woes to the passengers, especially the fasting people in the month of Ramadan.
Transport operators admitted the problem, saying that technical faults and traffic congestion on highways caused the situation.
Many buses and trains were also found taking additional passengers on their rooftops, putting the lives of the passengers at risk.
It was found at the Kamalapur Railway Station that most of the intercity trains failed to maintain the schedule as those came to the station late.
The passengers were mostly seen looking frustrated as they were sitting on the platform for hours to get into their trains.
Engineer Abu Sayeem, who went to the platform with his family members at about 11:00am to catch the Noakhali-bound Upakul Express, which was supposed to leave the terminal at 3:20pm.
"But now it is 5:20pm but the train hasn't come yet. I don't actually know how long we have to wait for the train," he said.
Another passenger of the train Azizur Rahman Sayeed, who works as an executive officer of a local pharmaceutical company, said he has been communicating with the station authorities but received no clear message about the delay.
"My 17-year-old sister became sick due to such a long wait and was forced to break her fasting."
According to the Kamalapur Railway Station sources, trains like Sundarban Express, Suborno Express, Padma Express and Jamuna Express were delayed by 60, 75, 65 and 80 minutes respectively in reaching the country's prime railway terminal.
The passengers were also seen moving desperately whenever a train came.
When contacted, Station Master-2 Nripendra Chandra Saha admitted the schedule breakdown, saying that technical fault delayed Upakul Express.
Three special trains were also added to the regular fleet of trains on the day. These will be plying on Dewanganj, Parbatipur and Khulna route to lessen the pressure of increased number of passengers.
At the Gabtoli and Mahakhali bus terminals on Saturday, it was found that a few buses were 30 to 40 minutes late due to the hassle of placing the vehicles at the right space. As a result, a half to one-hour jam at Gabtoli-Beribadh crossing was observed until the evening.
"It is good that my bus is leaving just after 30 minutes of scheduled time today," Md Afzal Hossain Manik, a book seller said while he was entering Sarker Travels, a Pabna-bound private bus, at 11 am on Saturday.
"Last year I went home on the same date and it took five hours just to cross Gabtoli", he said.
He said the journey from Azimpur to Kalyanpur was smooth Saturday morning unlike normal days. This helped him to come to the counter timely.
Garment workers were seen coming from Gabtoli, Kalyanpur, Mahakhali and other areas.
Mahabub Hossain, a garment worker of Sonotex Ltd, a garment factory at Mirpur-11, was looking for July 27 bus ticket at Mazar Road, Gabtoli to go to his home in Dinajpur.
"I made desperate run from Gabtoli to College Gate to get a ticket of Hanif, SR, Shyamoli, Nabil or of any other bus operator for July 27 but failed," he said.
When asked, he said that they had no access to the state-run BRTC buses. The employees and workers belonging to political high-ups grabbed all the tickets, he alleged.
However, the BRTC this year arranged 60 buses for garment workers for going home.
Mohosena Begum, a garment worker, alleged that she bought a July 26 (night) ticket of T R Travel, a Sirajganj-Bogra bound bus at Tk 700 from a counterman at Kalyanpur against actual price of Tk 350.
"I was helpless as I had no other option," said Mohosena, who earns Tk 5,000 at a sub-contract garment factory at Ashulia.
However, no major traffic congestion occurred in highways until Saturday evening, according to transport operators. They said traffic jam may occur on July 27 night as most of the service-holders will start leaving the capital on the day.
According to officials of Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation (BRTC), Bangladesh Railway (BR), Bangladesh Bus-Truck Owners Association, Bangladesh Sarak Paribahan Samity, Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) and Biman Bangladesh Airlines, about 2.5 million people usually leave Dhaka per day ahead of Eid-ul Fitr.
Of the total, about 2.32 million leave the city by road, 0.15 million by waterway transports, 0.06 million by train and 7,500-8,000 by air.
Schedules break down: home-goers in long wait
Jubair Hasan and Yasir Wardad | Published: July 27, 2014 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2026 06:01:00
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