Some 40 railway stations on the Dhaka-Chattogram rail route remain closed for a long-time forcing passengers to take an extended route to reach their destinations.
Railway officials told Bangladesh Post that the stations' loop lines and signal systems have become useless. As a result, the trains can no longer run at the previous speed.
A total of 15 trains, including 10 high-speed intercity trains, run daily on the Dhaka-Chattogram route, with a seating capacity of 21,000 passengers.
However, in reality more than 25,000 passengers are traveling on the Dhaka-Chattogram route. During Eid or long public holidays, the number of passengers exceed 35,000.
The railway route is considered to be the most important railway in the country. The rail line is also known for running high speed trains between the two cities.
When contacted, Shaheb Uddin, Assistant Chief Transport Officer, Eastern Railway of Chattogram, told Bangladesh Post that the train takes more than 3 minutes to cross each closed station officially, But in reality, it takes 5 minutes or often more.
“It takes more than 2 to 3 hours for the passengers to reach the destination,” he added.
According to the Chattogram Railway Official sources, Dhaka-Chattogram high speed ‘intercity train “Subarna Express’ and ‘Sonar Bangla’ now takes about five and a half hours to reach their destination.
If all the stations were open, these trains could have reached their destination about one to one and a half hours earlier. Other trains take six to seven and a half hours, which is at least two to two and a half hours longer due to the closed station.
According to senior officials of the Railway Transport Department, trains are running on the Dhaka-Chattogram route at an average speed of 60 to 72 km per hour. But before crossing the closed stations, the speed has to be brought down to less than 50 kilometers per hour.
Of the 40 closed stations, 26 are in Dhaka and 14 in Chittagong. The 126-year-old `Bariadhala railway station’ in Chattogram was closed on March 4, 2000. `Barbakund station` was also closed on August 26, 2009 along the Mirsarai station on 12 February 2007.
Jahangir Hossain, General Manager (GM) of the eastern region, while speaking to this correspondent, said, “The problem has arisen because of the railways have not recruited manpower for a long time.”
“The recruitment process is ongoing. Once the staff crisis is over, all the closed stations will be reopened in phases,” he added.
