Eid travel

Every year enough high sounding promises are made by the administration presumably to ensure safe passage for home bound passengers during the Eid festivals. Unfortunately, very few of such promises can be fulfilled although for no fault of the administration but for other reasons. Human miseries during Eid festival for people who want to visit their village homes outside the capital, hit the newspaper headlines every year, but sadly very little progress is noticed over the years.
Although we can foresee a comfortable journey after completion of the Padma bridge, there are doubts about railway tracks on the bridge. It appears from media reports that our railway tracks get separated from sleepers because of high temperature which is below 40 C during summer compared to 50 C in India or Pakistan at that time. The railway services are not disrupted in either Pakistan or India due to high ambient temperature, but why it happens in Bangladesh is still not known clearly which must be explored and removed immediately.
If a railway accident happens at Padma bridge due to rise in temperature because of poor quality tracks or inappropriate placing of tracks, the disaster can be foreseen and it is easier to undertake appropriate measures, including replacement of railway tracks which are not heat resistant and strong enough to bear the shock.
Mohammad Ali
138 New Eskaton Road
Dhaka-1000