Rail lines have been affected by the flood this year with lines inundated in many areas. In many areas, rail lines have been washed away by flood waters and in other areas, rail lines have subsided.
As a result, rail connection has been snapped between Dhaka and several other areas. Trains are also stranded in certain areas. Around thirty days will be needed to fix the lines. Rail authority feels that this may adversely impact journeys during Eid.
Bangladesh Railway has made a report on affected lines and it shows that seven routes have been damaged. Of them, water is flowing over Benarpar-Badiakhali section.
Work is underway to fix the line which may take up to Aug 25 next.
The holiday for Eid ul Azha will start from Aug 10 or 11 so travel in this route will be disrupted.
In several areas, sand and earth are being used to provide a stop gap solution.
Additional DG of railways, Mia Jahan Ali, said: “In several areas, ditches up to 16 feet have been formed; the force of the water has removed stones and earth of the lines. We are trying to fix the problems before Eid.”
Due to inundation of several lines, alternative routes are being used. This has a downside since trains on these routes do not stop at all stations. This has raised the suffering of the passengers.
Intercity Teets, Jamuna, Brahmaputra, Agnibeena, Express trains and other mail trains from Dhaka, Mymensingh and Chattogram are running till Jamalpur station instead of the east side of Bangabandhu Bridge.
The line between Pachpeer-Ulipur station has gone under water and therefore, the Kurigram-Teesta junction is being used. Railway additional DG, Mia Jahan, said: “We have already started work; once the flood water receded, the train connection will become normal."