Buckled track, fire cause severe railway disruption
Experts have expressed skepticism that pouring water or using water hyacinth on the tracks will have any positive impact in overcoming the bending problem.
Highlights
- Rail tracks got bent in Brahmanbaria for the second time in three days
- Train movement with Dhaka-Ctg-Sylhet to Dhaka was suspended for several hours
- Fire at a warehouse snapped rail connectivity from Chattogram to Dhaka and Sylhet
- On Thursday, 7 bogies of a container train veered off the tracks in Brahmanbaria due to buckled track
- Excessive heat is behind buckled railway tracks, said officials
- Railway workers using cold water and water hyacinth to cool down the tracks
Railway communication in the country was severely disrupted on Saturday, causing suffering to thousands of passengers, as rail tracks got bent for the second time in three days in Brahmanbaria and a fire broke out at a tire warehouse close to railway tracks in the Dewanhat area of Chattogram.
The major disruption occurred at a time when many people are returning to the city areas, including the capital Dhaka, after celebrating the Eid vacation in their village homes.
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Railway movement on the upline route from Chattogram and Sylhet to Dhaka was suspended as the rail tracks got bent in Brahmanbaria due to excessive heat.
Officials said the rail tracks got bent at the Dariyapur and Haran areas of Brahmanbaria Sadar upazila around 11 am, snapping the rail communication. Train movement in the route resumed at around 8 pm.
On the other hand, a fire broke out at around 1 pm a tire warehouse in the Dewanhat area of Chattogram and was brought under control at 2.20 pm.
Twelve firefighting units worked to douse the blaze that prompted the railway authorities to suspend railway connectivity from Chattogram to Dhaka, Sylhet and the rest of the country as the fire spot was very close to the railway tracks.
Earlier, on Thursday afternoon, seven bogies of a container train veered off the tracks in the Dariyapur area while heading towards Dhaka from Chattogram due to severe heat around 12:50 pm. The accident resulted in about 500 metres of the railway line being damaged and the sleeper being broken.
The rail tracks became normal for movement around 31 hours after it was fixed at 8 pm on Friday.
The Bangladesh Railway has yet to find a permanent solution to the track bending problem as they are currently resorting to pouring cold water onto the tracks in order to cool them down and prevent further bending.
However, experts have expressed skepticism that pouring water or using water hyacinth on the tracks will have any positive impact in overcoming the problem.
Instead, they recommended several actions, such as adopting automation for track maintenance, applying white paint to the tracks, and using concrete slabs instead of stone.
The railway authorities have cited excessive heat as the cause of the track bending. They said rail tracks are at risk of bending when the temperature rises above 45 degrees Celsius. On Saturday, in Dariyapur, the railway line bent due to a temperature of approximately 50 degrees Celsius.
Md Jahangir Hossain, general manager of the east zone of Bangladesh Railway, said that there is no permanent solution to the problem of railway tracks bending caused by excessive heat.
"It has been a recurring issue for years. When temperatures reach around 40 degrees Celsius or higher, the tracks become susceptible to bending," he said.
He explained that small gaps are built into railway tracks to account for heat expansion or rail-wheel friction, but overheating causes the tracks to expand beyond their designed capacity, resulting in bending.
Md Jahangir added that the tracks will naturally return to their normal shape once temperatures drop. However, in the meantime, they are cooled down by pouring cold water and using water hyacinth.
Mehdi Hasan Ahmed Tarek, assistant executive engineer of Akhaura Railway, said that they have increased monitoring on both the down and up lines to avoid any accidents.
Railway officials said that they will replace the wooden sleepers with concrete sleepers on the railway line when the temperature drops.
Md Rafiqul, station master at Brahmanbaria Railway Station, said that wooden sleepers have a lower load bearing capacity, which contributes to the track bending. The situation will return to normal once the temperature drops and the concrete sleepers are installed.
Experts say to permanently overcome the issue of track bending the railway authorities need to change the entire technology and adopt automation for line maintenance.
Mahiat Hasna, transport coordinator for the Global Road Safety Programme, told The Business Standard, "I do not believe that pouring water or using water hyacinth on the tracks will have any positive impact. These measures may be a waste of time, as the temperature typically drops on its own after dusk."
She alleged that there is a lack of proper maintenance of the railway tracks and added that the manual maintenance of the lines is time-consuming and may not be accurately fixed.
Mahiat added that since heatwaves may persist in the coming years, immediate action needs to be taken to prepare for the challenges ahead.
However, she acknowledged that implementing long-term solutions would require time and a substantial budget. In the meantime, she suggested that authorities could consider temporary solutions that have proven effective in other countries facing similar challenges.
"For instance, railways could apply white paint on the track to decrease the temperature by 5-8 degrees Celsius. Additionally, many countries are now using concrete slabs instead of stone for the track, and they have seen positive results. Concrete slabs can prevent track bending, but the joints must be monitored and the clips need to be changed after a certain period."
Mamunnul Islam, joint director general (engineering) of Bangladesh Railway, declined to comment on the matter citing physical sickness. Meanwhile, Md Abu Jafor Mia, chief engineer (east) of Bangladesh Railway, did not respond despite repeated attempts to contact him.
Meanwhile, passengers and members of civil society have called for increased monitoring of railway lines to ensure safe travel and prevent major accidents.
Piyush Kanti Acharya, president of the District Citizen Forum in Brahmanbaria, questioned why the railway line bent in a temperature of 34 degrees Celsius today, while it did not bend at a temperature of 39 degrees Celsius recently. He called for an investigation and warned that if this problem persists, it could lead to a major train accident.
The railway authorities have issued instructions to reduce the speed of trains on the down line to prevent accidents.
As a result, trains will cross the site of the recent accidents at a maximum speed of 10 km per hour, while the maximum speed limit for other areas will be 20 km per hour.
Earlier, on 29 August last year, train movement was disrupted due to excessive heat in the Chotaharan area of Brahmanbaria Sadar upazila.
The railway tracks in Bangladesh span around 3,000 kilometres in length.
