Extreme heat prevailing in the country is hazardous not just for the living beings, It is also affecting the rail tracks making train journey in the eastern part of the country risky.
When temperature rises, it causes the steel tracks to expand. A train not mindful of the tracks may get derailed and face tragic accident.
Bangladesh Railways (Eastern) has directed all trains to go slow from 12 noon to 4pm to avoid any mishaps.
“Already some parts of the eastern rail tracks suffered damage due to the heat. On last Thursday, the rail track at Gangasagor of Brahmanbaria’s Akhaura faced trouble. So we are asking trains to go slow after Laksham-Akhaura section,” said Mohammad Kamrul Hasan, engineer of Bangladesh eastern railways.
He further added that trains were directed to run at 20kilometre per hour at the 4km stretch of rail line at Paghachang area of Brahmanbaria.
When the temperature rises more than 50 degrees Celsius, heat-related expansion places a lot of stress on the ties, ballasts, and rail anchors that keep the tracks fixed to the ground. Eventually, the tracks buckle under the force.
Meanwhile, trains were reported to be running late due to slow speed and various minor mishaps. On Thursday, Chittagong-bound Probhati and Godhuli from Dhaka and Sylhet-bound Udayan Express from Chittagong faced delays.
Md Yasin Faruk Mazumdar, officer in-charge of Akhaura rail station police outpost, said: “Tracks in several places near Gangashagor buckled on Thursday. So we had to suspend train connectivity for repairing the tracks.”
Chief mechanical engineer (eastern) Md Harunur Rashid said buckling of rail tracks was a common phenomenon in the summer and they had taken all necessary measures to avert any accident.