Yesterday, the Bijoy Express, which was heading to Jamalpur from Chattogram, derailed at Nangalkot in Cumilla - cutting off the port city’s rail communication with Dhaka, Sylhet and Mymensingh.
Luckily no one was killed but around 30 passengers on board the train were injured in the accident.
Rail communication between Chattogram and the rest of Bangladesh resumed 14 hours after the derailed compartments were removed from.
While there have been speculations as to what might have caused the accident, the derailment of the nine compartments of Bijoy Express drops a hint of the dilapidated condition of the railways across the country.
Hasanpur Railway Station Master Mongu Marma said primarily it appears the train derailed because the railway lines had bent because of heat.
However, the railway authority has formed two separate committees to find out the actual cause in the wake of the accident.
Professor Hadiuzzaman of the Department of Civil Engineering, Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) said that he does not think that the accident took place because of bent railway lines getting bent because of heat.
"When the accident took place, I was observing the situation and I saw the temperature in Cumilla was around 30-32 degrees celsius. I don't think that the accident occurred due to bent railway lines," he said.
“The temperature was 32 degrees celsius, then the temperature of the railway line could be higher by a maximum of 10 degrees celsius as railway lines absorb heat. Even then, the rail line could not be buckling with such a low amount of heat,” said Hadiuzzaman, who is also a transportation engineer.
He said if the rail line had bent in that temperature then it is a matter of concern because summer is yet to begin and the weather will grow hotter in the coming days.
“Then the railway authority will have to stop trains in the vulnerable rail lines,” he added.
He said that the reason behind the accident could be the breakdown of the hook with which the rest of the compartments are attached to the locomotive.
If the derailment was caused by buckling rail lines, then the locomotive would have also be involved in the accident.
“The locomotive did not derail. People who were nearby heard a loud noise of heavy things crashing. The sound may have come from the collision of the compartments with the locomotive,” he added.
According to the expert, since around 500 metres of rail line had been uprooted in the accident as a result it is very tough to say whether the rail line has been bent or not.
Old and ignored lines
Of all the accidents that occurred on the railways, 70% were cases of derailments.
According to the Bangladesh Railway's Information Book, all types of accidents have come down over the last 10 years.
For example, in 2008-2009, the number of collisions was 7, the number of derailments stood at 408 and instances where trains ran into obstruction was 34 - totalling 449 train accidents.
On the other hand, in 2019-20, the number of collisions was 1.
The number of derailments was 72 and instances where trains ran into obstruction stood at 7.
In total, 80 accidents happened in that year.
Moreover, 63% of the nearly 3,000-kilometre railway lines across the country are in the dangerous category, according to Bangladesh Railways’ feasibility study.
Professor Hadiuzzaman said the Department of Railway is very interested in taking up new projects but they seem to neglect the old ones which urgently need maintenance.
“Buckling is common in regions with hot regions. It happens in some states in the USA and the UK too. Even in India rail line buckling or shrinking is common. But they take action to minimise the problem,” he added.
“To protect the rail lines from buckling, it is painted with n white colour. When the railway line is painted white, it absorbs less heat. In India, sometimes they put water hyacinths on the railway line to lower the temperature,” Professor Hadiuzzaman said.
He said Bangladesh Railway must monitor and find buckling-prone areas, adding, “They can set up heat censors along the railway lines. Many countries around the world use heat censors which alert about the temperature of the railway lines. Then officials can take actions accordingly to reduce the temperature of the railway lines.”
Stating that Ministry of Railways has been investing a huge amount of money to construct new railway lines but they have little concern about the old lines, Professor Hadiuzzaman said, "We will have to do maintenance works on the old railway lines, otherwise the number of derailment will increase in the coming years."
He said that the railway should invest around Tk10,000 crore to fix the old railway lines.
A railway official, on anonymity, echoed Professor Hadiuzzaman’s views.
He said the reason for Bijoy Express’ derailment may be something else other than buckling due to heat.
No casualty or serious injury among the passengers in the Bijoy Express derailment incident has been a case of luck by chance.
The incident could taken a very bad turn given the overall old and poor condition of the railway lines in our country.
