A slowdown in internet speed and the partial curfew enforced across the country are hampering the railway authorities' attempts at resuming full-fledged railway operations, resulting in a loss of more than Tk4 crore every day in the state-run transport sector.
Wishing to remain anonymous, a railway official told Bangladesh First that nearly all railway ticketing and operational tasks are linked to internet service, which was resumed a week after its suspension amid a deadly quota protest movement across the country.
He said the restoration of internet service hardly helps to run the functions properly due to very low speed.
On the other hand, he continued, long-distance railway passengers will find themselves traveling amid curfew if intercity train operations are resumed.
"We will communicate with the law enforcement agencies about the issue before resuming the service," he added.
The railway authorities resumed short-distance commuter trains today on the Dhaka-Narayanganj, Dhaka-Tangail, and Dhaka-Joydebpur routes with a limited number of trains after 11 days of disruption of the country’s railway communications.
Sardar Sahadat Ali, the Director General of Bangladesh Railway, told Bangladesh First, "After three days of operating the short-distance commuter trains, we will sit with the railway minister and law enforcement agencies to decide on the operation of the long-distance intercity trains across the country."
“We will try to operate intercity trains as soon as possible,” the railway DG added.
Sources said the operation of 106 intercity trains, as well as commuter, mail, and local trains, has been suspended since the protests turned violent. Additionally, all inter-country trains running between Bangladesh and India have also stopped operations.
Bangladesh Railways had earlier continued train operations irrespective of any circumstance, be it floods or any movement.
“I can tell you that this is the longest railway train disruption in the country since the War of Independence in 1971,” former railway director general Taffazal Hossain told Bangladesh First.
