Tragic train accident

Monday's train accident near Bhairab Bazar Junction Railway Station is a grim reminder of the danger lurking over the so-called comparatively safe mode of transportation. Rash driving by bus drivers is mostly responsible for fatal accidents on roads. In the case of Egarsindhur Godhuly Express train's tragic accident, as preliminary probe indicates, rash driving by the driver of the freight train seems to be the cause of the accident. The freight train did not stop at the outer signal when the Godhuly was switching line and for a split second it rammed into the latter's third from the last carriage, overturning two and derailing another of the three last compartments. As many as 18 lives perished and nearly a hundred others of the last two carriages had to be rushed to hospital, some of the more critical to Dhaka Medical College Hospital. The last such railway tragedy involving collision of two trains happened in November 2019 at a place in Brahmanbaria, in which 19 people got killed and scores injured.
Compared with road and waterway accidents, such major incidents involving trains are fewer no doubt. But the number of accidents on level crossings is much too high with the casualty figures mounting to more than a deadly train disaster. In a country where the railway has remained outdated---nearly primitive, the nation can count itself lucky for not encountering more such avoidable disasters. When engineers claim the use of bamboo for repair of rail tracks is all right, the level of maintenance gives an idea of the task. Unguarded level crossings and negligence of gatekeepers at legal level crossings are responsible for death of 145 people out of 175 total deaths from railway accidents between 2014 and 2020. This shows that 83 per cent deaths occurred on railway crossings. When buses, microbuses and cars or vans try to cross an open level crossing, trains smash into those killing passengers inside.
The problem with the Bangladesh Railway is that it is yet to be given the impetus for a change lock, stock, and barrel which it desperately needs to get things in order. To ensure a safe journey for railway passengers and those of the vehicles using level crossings, the ingredient considered a prerequisite is the conceptual transformation from a moribund system to a set of modern and efficient railway infrastructure and service. Nothing less than these can deliver the goods. A driver of the goods train in this case may have taken his job rather casually in a railway environment that fails to keep his kinds under constant surveillance. Otherwise, it is unthinkable for such a driver to violate the signal.
Well, it would be premature to blame the driver entirely for the accident, though. The two probe bodies the BR formed might come up with the actual cause of the accident. If it corroborates the preliminary findings, on the basis of which the driver of the freight train and two others have been temporarily suspended, the heads of the accused are set to be rolling. But if there is a twist to the incident, let it be exposed in order to find the real culprit and also in the interest of a fair trial and avoiding such accidents in the future.