The home-bound passengers, who are going to celebrate the upcoming Eid festival, had to suffer a lot on Saturday due to unwanted disruptions in schedules of trains and buses.
Some intercity trains left the Kamalapur Railway Station and were delayed by between an hour and over two hours from their scheduled departure time.
A total of 68 trains were supposed to leave the Kamalapur station on time.
The Bangladesh Railway (BR) authorities said that some trains left the station late due to excessive pressure of passengers because they made sure commuters move safely.
They said the train movement was halted for a while due to a technical glitch of a locomotive at the Tejgaon station, which delay of some intercity trains.
Rajshahi-bound Dumketu Express was scheduled to depart the station at 6:00 am but it left at 7:00 am.
Khulna-bound Sundarban Express was due to leave the station at 6:20 am but it finally departed at 8:00 am.
Lalmonirhat-bound Lalmonirhat Express was scheduled to leave the station at 9:15 am but if left the station at 10:55 am.
Dinajpur-bound Nilsagar Express was originally scheduled to leave the station at 8:00 am but it finally left the station at around 11:00 am.
Rangpur-bound Rangpur Express left the station at 10:00 am, whose original departure time was 9:00 am.
Passengers expressed their utter frustration and dismay over the unwanted delay in trains' departure.
"Waiting a long time for train is really painful and disgusting," Md Raihan Mandal, a Rangpur-bound passenger, told the FE.
A railway official said that the authority was taking necessary steps to maintain the train schedule.
Most of the buses of different routes at Sayedabad, Mohakhali and Gabtoli bus terminals left the capital due to huge gridlock at different important points of the highways.
"We don't know when we can reach our ancestral home," Abdul Matin Sarkar, a Mymensingh-bound passenger, told the FE at Mohakhali bus terminal at around 11: 00 am.
There was a long tailback at Shimulia- Kathalia, Aricha-Douladia ferry ghat points due to the shortage of ferries.
Traffic jams at some points of Dhaka- Tangail, Dhaka-Mymenshingh, Dhaka- Chattogram and Dhaka-Sylhet highways forced the vehicles to move slowly.
However, launches of different routes left the Dhaka river port terminal at Sadarghat in time.
A high official of Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) told the FE that until evening launches of different routes left the terminal in time.
Meanwhile, a passenger welfare platform called for taking effective measures to help reduce the number of accidents in highways and sufferings of the Eid holidaymakers.
The Passengers Welfare Association of Bangladesh (PWAB) also demanded that the government prevent unfit vehicles from plying on the highways and unlicenced drivers from driving.
The association came up with the demands in a statement based on the observations made by its volunteers in the last couple of days.
Secretary-general of the association Mozammel Haque Chowdhury said the volunteers found many unfit vehicles, illegal three-wheelers, human hauler plying on the highways by flouting the government directives.
They volunteers identified various irregularities like ticket-selling through the illegal channel, carrying additional passenger beyond the capacity and extra charges at toll plazas of both road and waterways.
They reported dilapidated roads, unfit vehicles and long tailback on the highways.
Mr Haque said many passengers were forced to pay up to three times charges higher than the regular, despite the monitoring of government agencies, including Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA).
