Main Page «
Front Page «
Metro «
Business «
International «
Sports «
National «
Editorial «
Op-Ed «
Timeout «
Letters «

Archive «
Launch Supplement «
Special Supplements «

The railway sector in the Lalmonirhat West Zone Division presents a very gloomy picture with dilapidated rail tracks, incidence of derailment of trains on different routes at frequent intervals and indifference of the concerned ministry to address the problems of this sector.
   Sources in the Lalmonirhat railway divisional headquarters said both passenger and goods trains have to move at a snail's pace on different routes in eight districts of the west zone due to critical condition of the railway tracks.
   Hardly a month passes when one or two incidents of the derailment of trains do not occur on different lines in Lalmonirhat, Kurigram, Gaibandha, Rangpur, Dinajpur, Bogra, Panchagarh and Nilphmari.
   Nearly 135 incidents of the derailment of passenger and good strain took place in this zone during the last one year ending on May 10.
   These incidents occurred on the Lalmonirhat-Burimari, Lalmonirhat-Teesta, Lalmonirhat-Ramna, Lalmonirhat-Parbatipur, and Lalmonirhat- Thakurgaon routes because of weak railway tracks.
   The sources informed that at least Tk 50,000 to 70,000 is requirement to lift the derailed compartments or wagons on the line.
   Salam, a train driver of Lalmonirhat railway station, said they could not maintain time schedule due to poor condition of the railways tracks almost everywhere in the eight districts. We have to run trains at a speed of 15 to 25 kilometres per hour on most of the lines instead ofpermissible45 kilometres for this reason, he added.
   He further said that the railway tracks at many places in these districts have no sleeper and stone.
   Some residents of Lalmonirhat town told New Age that many people nowadays travel between Lalmonirhat and Rangpur by bus ignoring the hazards of bus journey as the travel by trains is always time consuming and uncertain.
   The sources pointed out that though the earnings from the 85-meter long Lalmonirhat- Burimari railway route are very huge, the railway management has not been paying any attention to its development. The daily earnings of the Burimari railway station range between Tk 10 and 12 lakh.
   Stone, rice, wheat and many other commodities are transported to different destinations from this station everyday. 150 to 200 wagons are loaded at this station per day, according to the sources.
   A railway official said the daily income of the railway from the Lalmonirhat-Burimari line would increase still further if the track was developed for ensuring movement of passenger and goods trains at a high speed.
   The earnings of the Bangladesh Railway soared after it leased out Lalmonirhat-Patgram and Thakurgaon-Parbatipur lines to two private companies.
   But there preventatives of the two private companies complained that through they were giving a significant amount money to the Bangladesh Railway for running trains on these two lines privately, the latter was not taking any step to improve the condition of the tracks.
   When contacted, senior officials of the Lalmonirhat Divisional headquarters said they have already submitted a project profile of Tk 158 to the concerned ministry about six months ago for the development of railway tracks in the west zone.
   They were not sure when the amount would be made available for the development of the railway sector in the west zone.
   The annual income of the Lalmonirhat railway division stands at about Tk 131 crore.
   Its yearly expenditure is around Tk 140 crore. This amount is spent for the payment of salaries of the railway employees and undertaking small repair work of railway tracks and bridges, the sources said.