Railway struggles with old coaches

Passengers suffer as tickets cancelled sans prior notice

The railway authorities have been cancelling train coaches without prior information. A total of 169 coaches of various trains were taken out at Dhaka railway station (Kamalapur) over 13 days in July. Because of this, hundreds of passengers had to suffer.
The Bangladesh Railway authorities say these were "damaged" coaches. There is a provision to check coaches before selling tickets. But it seems the Dhaka station authorities are not following it. More than 12,000 passengers, who were to travel in these 169 coaches, were caught unawares when their tickets were cancelled shortly before the trains were to leave. This happened between July 8 and 20. The BR, on the other hand, suffered huge losses.
As per documents provided by the railway authorities, of the 169 coaches, 118 were of inter-city trains and 51 of mail trains. Many passengers had to return home from the station. Aggrieved passengers were seen arguing with station staff.
The railway authorities blame "manpower shortage". They say that with the present staff strength, it is almost impossible for them to carry out shunting, which means switching, adding or taking out coaches because of technical faults.
Mujibur Rahman, chief examiner at Dhaka station, told The Independent: “The coaches were damaged due to technical faults. What can we do if there is a technical fault? It's a different matter whether it was damaged deliberately. That has to be investigated.”
Even the station staff members are unhappy. On July 24, Sitanshu Chakrabarty, manager of Dhaka station, sent a letter to the divisional railway manager, urging him to take measures as dissatisfaction among passengers was increasing due to sudden cancellation of coaches. He also mentioned that the railway was losing revenue. 
Harun-ur-Rashid, chief mechanical engineer of the BR (east zone), told The Independent: “It is unusual to have so many damaged coaches. The main reason is that a large number of coaches is old. There are 920 coaches in the east zone, but 30 per cent of them should have been discarded long back. We are running trains with dilapidated coaches. On the other hand, the Phartali workshop has not been able to supply coaches as per demand.” However, he hoped the problem would be solved after new train coaches arrive from Indonesia. Some consignments of train coaches are yet to reach Bangladesh. 
“We have directed TXRs (train examiners) not to cancel coaches if there is no major fault. We always give priority to security of passengers. Hopefully, this problem will be solved before Eid-ul-Azha,” added Harun-ur-Rashid.
It was found that the BR authorities cancelled 19 coaches on July 20, the highest on a single day. On July 13, 18 coaches, and 15 each on July 14 and 15 were cancelled at Dhaka station.

Railway struggles with old coaches

Passengers suffer as tickets cancelled sans prior notice

The railway authorities have been cancelling train coaches without prior information. A total of 169 coaches of various trains were taken out at Dhaka railway station (Kamalapur) over 13 days in July. Because of this, hundreds of passengers had to suffer. The Bangladesh Railway authorities say these were damaged coaches. There is a provision to check coaches before selling tickets. But it seems the Dhaka station authorities are not following it. More than 12,000 passengers, who were to travel in these 169 coaches, were caught unawares when their tickets were cancelled shortly before the trains were to leave. This happened between July 8 and 20. The BR, on the other hand, suffered huge losses. As per documents provided by the railway authorities, of the 169 coaches, 118 were of inter-city trains and 51 of mail trains. Many passengers had to return home from the station. Aggrieved passengers were seen arguing with station staff. The railway authorities blame manpower shortage. They say that with the present staff strength, it is almost impossible for them to carry out shunting, which means switching, adding or taking out coaches because of technical faults. Mujibur Rahman, chief examiner at Dhaka station, told The Independent: The coaches were damaged due to technical faults. What can we do if there is a technical fault? Its a different matter whether it was damaged deliberately. That has to be investigated. Even the station staff members are unhappy. On July 24, Sitanshu Chakrabarty, manager of Dhaka station, sent a letter to the divisional railway manager, urging him to take measures as dissatisfaction among passengers was increasing due to sudden cancellation of coaches. He also mentioned that the railway was losing revenue. Harun-ur-Rashid, chief mechanical engineer of the BR (east zone), told The Independent: It is unusual to have so many damaged coaches. The main reason is that a large number of coaches is old. There are 920 coaches in the east zone, but 30 per cent of them should have been discarded long back. We are running trains with dilapidated coaches. On the other hand, the Phartali workshop has not been able to supply coaches as per demand. However, he hoped the problem would be solved after new train coaches arrive from Indonesia. Some consignments of train coaches are yet to reach Bangladesh. We have directed TXRs (train examiners) not to cancel coaches if there is no major fault. We always give priority to security of passengers. Hopefully, this problem will be solved before Eid-ul-Azha, added Harun-ur-Rashid. It was found that the BR authorities cancelled 19 coaches on July 20, the highest on a single day. On July 13, 18 coaches, and 15 each on July 14 and 15 were cancelled at Dhaka station.