13 bridges with ‘Dead Stop’ signs on Sylhet-Akhaura railway route

Derailed train. UNB File Photo
Derailed train. UNB File Photo

There are at least 13 bridges with 'Dead Stop' signs on the 179 km Sylhet-Akhaura railway route. This could be risky for thousands of the train passengers.

A 'Dead Stop' sign at a railway bridge instructs the train to stop completely before crossing and then run only at a speed of five-kilometre per hour.

Sources at Railway (East Zone) said six trains -- Parabat, Jayantika, Paharika, Udayan, Upaban and Kalni -- carry around 12,000 to 15,000 passengers every day over these danger spots.

Eight of these 'Dead Stop' aigns are along an 18 km stretch from Sylhet to Mogla Bazar and five along a 164 km stretch from Mogla Bazar to Akhaura Bridge.

According to the Sylhet branch of the railway engineering division, the 13 bridges with 'Dead Stop' signs are -- Shamshernagar-Tilagon section's bridge No 200, Mogla Bazar-Maijgaon section's bridge No 43, 45 and 47, Kulaura-Baramchal section's bridge No 5 and 7, Satgaon-Sreemangal section's bridge No 141, Sreemangal-Bhanugach section's bridge No 157, Maijgaon-Bhater Bazar section's bridge No 29, and Montola-Itakhola section's bridge No 56.

Sajib Kumar Malakar, assistant station manager of Sylhet railway station, said most of the bridges in this section are in a dangerous condition.

“I cannot confirm whether the 23 June accident happened because of the bridge’s condition,” he added.

Five people were killed when six coaches of the Dhaka-bound Upaban Express was derailed on 23 June after a culvert over the Barochhara canal, near the Baramchal railway station, caved in.

A coach of the BC special train carrying fertiliser from Shahjalal fertiliser factory derailed at near Maijgaon station on 5 April.

In another incident, a coach of Jalalabad Express ran off the tracks in Mollikapur of Fenchuganj upazila on 16 May.

An oil tanker derailed in Kulaura of Moulvibazar in March 2018, snapping rail communication for two hours with other parts of the country.

Trains on Sylhet-Chattogram and Dhaka-Sylhet routes were halted for 15 hours on 23 February last year due to derailment of Upaban Express at Satgaon in Sreemangal.

In 2017, media reports highlighted the vulnerable state of Monu Bridge and how bamboo was used to repair it instead of steel rods. The bridge remained that way since then and is currently included on the list of risky bridges.

Bhoismara railway bridge, between Sreemangal and Satgaon station, was damaged in a flash flood on 5 April 2017. The condition of the bridge has hardly improved.

The rest of the bridges using 'Dead Stop' signs are in similarly ar risk.

Prime minister Sheikh Hasina on 25 June ordered the authorities to conduct a survey of railway bridges and culverts across the country and repair those damaged or risky.