Train delayed for 4 hours as driver sleeps

What happens when a train driver is fatigued, having worked late into the night, and has a train to drive in the morning?

He snores away in his quarter while passengers wait in their compartments wondering when his sleep will be over.

It may sound strange but this is what happened yesterday when the driver of an intercity train, his assistant and the guard fell asleep when the train was supposed to start off from a Sylhet station at 6:40am (scheduled time).

The train, Kalni Express, left the station for Dhaka four hours after they awoke, freshened up and ate their breakfast.

However, the reason for their sleep was not too unrealistic. They reached Sylhet yesterday at 4:45am driving the same train from Dhaka, six hours behind schedule. It was humanly impossible for them to start another trip in less than one and a half hours.

What is most interesting about it is that the railway authorities had no alternative arrangement even though they were aware of the delay and the suffering it would cause to about 350 passengers.

“Kalni Express, which usually starts for Sylhet at 4:00pm, started for Sylhet at 10:30pm Tuesday night because of an accident on the route the night before,” said Divisional Railway Manager Arifur Rahman.

Rummi Qureishi, a passenger who travelled to Dhaka with his daughter, claimed the authorities could not be more indifferent about the mismanagement.

“Finally, the train began to move at 10:40am but there was nobody to say sorry for the sufferings of the passengers,” he said.

It arrived at the Kamalapur Railway Station three hours late at 8:20pm, he added.

According to railway sources, operating staffs of a train are given enough time to rest after driving a train before they are engaged in the next trip. Alternative drivers, assistant drivers and guards are kept ready so that they can take over during the next trip in case of small gaps between the two trips.

“But in case of Kalni train, no alternative arrangement could be made due to shortage of loco masters, assistant loco masters and guards,” said Arifur Rahman, a senior railway official.

The schedule of Kalni Express is prepared in a way that the operating staffs can take rest before the train's return trip to Dhaka. “But it was not possible yesterday because of the train's delayed arrival in Sylhet,” he mentioned.

Recruitment in Bangladesh Railway has stopped for years now because of writs filed against alleged corruption in the recruitment process. It was only last year that a new batch of drivers and assistant drivers were recruited.

“Over the last four years, we managed the trips with retired drivers with contractual appointment,” said Director Establishment of Railway Prodip Kumer Saha.

He said 230 loco masters were appointed last year while appointment of 76 others is underway.

“But the appointed persons cannot yet operate trains as they are now taking trainings,” he told The Daily Star.