Service has been suspended since two trains were vandalized and burned on July 18.
BenarNews staff
Passenger train service has been suspended all over Bangladesh since July 18, a misery for the 123,000 people who depend on it daily, and another shock delivered by severe civil unrest in the South Asian country.
The stoppage began at noon on July 18 after trains were vandalized, according to Railway Minister Zillul Hakim.
“I ordered the suspension of all trains. Train operation will not resume until the situation becomes normal,” Hakim told BenarNews on Monday. He gave no date for when this might happen.
“Trains are easy targets. One locomotive cost U.S. $4.25 million. Burning one train would drain $12.75 million. Wasting state property in this way is unacceptable,” Hakim said.
Rajib Ahmed, who works for one of Bangladesh’s private train operators, confirmed that two trains were attacked on July 18, a day when protesters called for a “complete shutdown” and clashed with pro-government groups and police in many parts of the country.
At a station on the route to Dhaka from the central district of Kishoreganj, a mob set four train cars on fire, injuring about 50 people.
Another train, traveling from Chattogram to Dhaka, came under attack in Narsingdi station. Three cars were burned, and the rest were vandalized. Passengers fled, but 20 people were injured, Ahmed said.
Sardar Shahadat Ali, the director general of Bangladesh Railway, told BenarNews on Monday that train authorities want to resume service as soon as possible.
“We must think about the safety of the passengers, their belongings, and the state properties. Once the curfew is lifted, we will resume train operations immediately,” Ali said.
Last year, Bangladesh Railway operated 224 passenger trains carrying more than 123,000 passengers per day.
About 25 cargo trains were also halted on July 18. Limited cargo service resumed on July 28 between the port city of Chattogram and Dhaka.
Ashraful Islam, an employee of a private firm in Dhaka’s commercial hub Motijheel, commutes daily from his residence in the northern suburb of Gazipur.
“Every morning thousands of passengers commute between Dhaka and Gazipur by train. We reach Dhaka in just one hour, but buses take up to four hours,” he said.
Bus fare is 120 taka (about one U.S. dollar) while the train ticket is just 20 taka (17 cents), he said.
“We never saw train service stop except on the two Eid holidays. Even in 2014, 2015, the anti-government protesters uprooted the railway tracks, but the train service was not stopped,” he lamented.
Sujaul Islam Khan, a North South University professor of architecture and urban planning, told BenarNews that the suspension of passenger trains was unprecedented.
“For the first time in history, train services have been stopped for fear of violence,” he said.
“Trains carry over 123,000 people per day. In the absence of trains, people are forced to use buses. But do we have enough buses to carry these additional passengers?” said Khan.
Hundreds of student protesters returned to the streets Monday for the first time in more than a week, leading to clashes and new arrests.
Students are calling for the government to release detained student activists and drop legal cases against them, among other demands.
Police used stun grenades, tear gas and clubs to disperse protesters who poured into the streets in parts of Dhaka and Chattogram.
A student movement that originally demanded more access to government jobs has since turned into outrage over the heavy-handed response from authorities. At least 212 people have been killed since July 15, according to a BenarNews tally.
“The dead include students, policemen, and people from various professions,” Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal said Sunday, announcing the government’s death toll of 147.
Police did not disclose how many demonstrators were arrested on Monday. As of Sunday, at least 9,000 people had been taken into custody.
Md. Mahin Sarkar, one of the coordinators, on Monday alleged that the government was still arresting students at their homes during the night.
“Innocent students are being whisked away from houses in the dead of night … even though scores of people were shot dead by law enforcement agencies and thousands more are fighting for their lives at the hospitals,” he said.
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