An effort to reduce train accidents

Around 10am on a busy weekday, Joydevpur Railway Station was teeming with travellers eagerly waiting for their trains.

Suddenly, several youths started blowing whistles at the station and speaking in loudspeakers that a train was at a 10-minute distance.

“Please, stay at a safe distance! Please don’t hurry! Please don’t ride on train roofs! Please don’t cross the rail line!” said one of them, as this correspondent was visiting the rail station recently.

The group was also helping elderly persons and children keep  safe distance when a train arrived.

“Many people die in train accidents. We can reduce casualties, if we become aware about safety measures,” said Fantahil Alim, member of the group called Gazipur-Dhaka Train Passengers Forum.

“No one pays us for this. Rather, we have to spend money to continue the awareness campaign,” he said.

The forum has been conducting awareness campaigns for two years both on social media and at the station.

Volunteers have drawn yellow lines from one end of the platform to another, keeping two or three feet distance from where trains stop.

Several notices have been displayed requesting passengers not to cross the rail tracks when trains arrive.

“When trains come, many passengers keep standing at the edge of the platform. Anyone can be hit or crushed by train at the time,” said Saidur Rahman Bhuiyan, another activist of the group.

Md Shahjahan, station master at Joydevpur Rail Junction, said, “Around 10,000 passengers travel on Dhaka-Gazipur route daily.”

To update passengers of train schedules and raise safety awareness among them, several youths created the Facebook group on September 7, 2017.

In January this year, a traveller, Momin Uddin, died in a train accident. From then on, the group started the awareness campaign physically at the train station and elsewhere.

“We always keep whistles with us while travelling,” said Shamim, another member.

Besides, 60 people work on a weekly basis and during festival holidays at Jaydevpur junction area.

“We are planning to launch awareness programmes among students of schools adjacent to rail lines,” said Emdadul Islam, another member of the group.

At present, the number of members of this group is about 24,000. Many of them are active about updating information and the safety campaign.

Station Master Md Shahjahan said, “Their efforts are contributing to reduce train accidents.”