Risky rail bridges lie unrepaired

Bangladesh Railway east zone has left some vulnerable and damaged rail bridges unrepaired for years leading to trains having to crawl pass them risking lives

The rail bridge at Boromchal under Kulaura Railway Station, where the Upaban Express derailment claimed five lives on June 23, has been listed as one of the 18 vulnerable bridges in Bangladesh Railway’s east zone.

Damage to the bridges’ box walls, missing or damaged sleepers, poor bed-blocks, lines inundated, and ongoing repair works are the reasons for the bridges to be marked vulnerable. The authorities have placed speed limits at those points.

According to a document of BR, a speed limit was placed at a point between Shambhuganj-Mymensingh in February 2016 due to inadequate ballasts and stagnation of water.

Syed Faruk Ahmed, general manager (East) of BR, said the stagnation of water was a natural problem for the low-lying area and the railway could not do anything. He, however, could not say why the problem of inadequate ballasts was not solved.

The document also said another point between Chinkiastana and Muhuriganj made the list in August 2018 after sleepers were damaged following an accident. The speed limit is still there and the sleepers have not been repaired even though almost a year has gone by.

Railway officials said the 18 bridges were selected only after accidents and that they had been vulnerable for a long time. The Boromchal bridge was included in this list on June 24, a day after the accident, they said.

Some of the listed bridges were more vulnerable than others. Five of them have been made “dead stop points”, where trains pass at 5-10kmph.

Boromchal, Bhatiari- Kumira (up-down line), Bhaterabazar- Maijgaon, Sorabchor- Manikkhali, and Mohanganj-Dewanganjbazar are the “dead stop points”.

Railway documents showed that the speed limits result in a delay of about 20 minutes.

Seeking anonymity, a railway official said there might be more such places in the east zone and that authorities had not done a proper survey. 

The official said the authorities were not even repairing or maintaining the lines to make them risk-free.

GM Faruk told The Daily Star that it was true that they selected several points after unfortunate accidents, but the rest were selected following the railway’s scheduled monitoring.

Maintenance of these lines is being delayed for some official formalities, added Faruk. “There are a lot of on-going new projects. This is delaying the maintenance work.”

Kazi Mohammad Rafiqul Alam, director general of BR, told The Daily Star, “They cannot undertake all the renovation work due to budget constraints. The speed limit is also creating some problems. We are taking the necessary measures to solve the problems soon.”