Rail services resume after 26 hours

Rail services across the country resumed after more than 26 hours as train staffers called off their strike early yesterday.

Railway officials said many trains were running late and that it would take one more day for everything to normalise.

Meanwhile, the government has issued a circular accepting the major demands of the protesting train workers.

Mojibur Rahman, general secretary of Bangladesh Railway Running Staff and Sramik Karmachari Union, made the announcement for calling off the strike around 2:45am yesterday, after a meeting at the residence of the railways adviser on Minto Road.

Photo: Amran Hossain

The announcement came following the assurance of Railways Ministry Adviser Muhammad Fouzul Kabir Khan meeting the workers' demands.

From Dhaka, Dhumketu Express left Kamalapur Railway Station for Rajshahi at 6:30am, said Station Master Anwar Hossain. Other scheduled trains also left the station, but some were running late, he said.

Bangladesh Railway Director General Afzal Hossain said some trains were delayed as it took time for the workers on strike to get back to work.

"We hope the service will be normal within tomorrow [today]," he told The Daily Star yesterday evening.

The government has withdrawn the ceiling on the special remuneration the newly recruited assistant locomasters (assistant train drivers) get for their extra work.

The finance ministry issued a circular in this regard yesterday. It was one of the major demands of the train workers.

Railways Ministry Secretary Fahimul Islam confirmed the development to The Daily Star.

Photo: Star

Currently, the assistant locomasters get 100 percent "running allowance" (a special allowance for their additional work), but the allowance is capped at their monthly basic salary.

Secretary Fahimul said after yesterday's circular, that cap has been removed, allowing them to be paid as much as their additional work.

Meanwhile, the union yesterday received the minutes of the meeting held in the wee hours of yesterday. The minutes say that the locomasters, who joined the service before 2022, will get all the benefits, including those they will get after retirement.

"All of our colleagues have joined work as our demands were met," Saidur Rahman, acting president of the workers' union, told this newspaper.

Locomasters (train drivers), guards, and some others staffers observed the nationwide work abstention from early Tuesday for the special allowance after retirement and other demands.