A major disruption in train schedule and nagging traffic congestion on highways made the home-bound journey of Eid holidaymakers highly troublesome on Friday.
The Eid-goers had to wait for four to eight hours to get on their vehicles.
The situation was too horrible for train passengers who had to wait more because of the breakdown of schedule and a train accident near Bangabandhu bridge that snapped rail communications for several hours.
Home-goers were seen moving desperately from the counters to the points to get information on their transports.
A 70-kilometre tailback was created on Dhaka-Tangail-Sirajganj highway, leaving thousands of vehicles almost stranded for 3-7 hours on the day while an accident of Sundarban Express, a southern-bound train, took place near Bangabandhu Bridge at noon.
Ferry service also slowed down as hundreds of vehicles got stuck on the Paturia-Daulatdia and Kathalbari-Shimulia routes on the day.
Train services from Dhaka to northern and western districts resumed on Friday afternoon after a suspension of nearly three hours, officials said.
Service was disrupted as Khulna-bound Sundarban Express train derailed on the east side of Bangabandhu Bridge around 2.00 pm.
A rescue team rushed to the spot and removed derailed compartments of the train.
Following the incident, many trains halted journey at various stations including Rajshahi-bound Dhumketu Express and Dinajpur-bound Nilsagor Express at Bangabandhu Bridge East Station.
Such disruption caused immense sufferings to Eid holidaymakers on various train routes.
Meanwhile, schedule disruption in various trains worsened the holidaymakers' sufferings, sources said.
Most of the trains were delayed by three to eight hours on an average, sources at the Kamalapur Railway Station said.
Dhumketu Express, which was scheduled to leave Dhaka at 6.30 am, started its journey at 9.30 am.
Kamalapur Station Manager Aminul Huq said overcrowded trains have made stoppage for longer duration than usual at various stations to pick and drop Eid holidaymakers.
The railway authority was trying its best to maintain the schedule, he added.
Schedule disruption and huge crowd at the station caused sufferings to the holidaymakers.
Rafiqul Islam, a passenger of north-bound Nilsagor Express, said he was waiting for more than three hours at the station.
"On one hand, the train is delayed, on the other there is uncertainty if we can reach our seats amid huge crowd," he said.
Bus passengers also suffered a lot for traffic congestion and collapse of bus schedules on different routes.
Shafiqur Rahman, a NGO official, was waiting for his scheduled bus of 12:30 noon at Kalyanpur towards Rangpur on the day.
He told the FE at 5.30 pm that it was uncertain when the bus would come.
Counter manger gave them false assurance that it would come within next one hour, but five hours had passed, he said.
Monibur Rahman Ratan, another passenger, was going to Majar Road in Gabtoli to catch his bus of 9.00 pm toward Nilphamari.
"Counter manager of Nabil Paribahan phoned me on my way that the bus will leave the city at 8:00 am on August 10," he said.
When contacted, Ramesh Chandra Ghosh, chairman of Bangladesh Bus Truck Owners Association, said the Dhaka-Tangail highway witnessed a 60-kilometre tailback on Thursday night which increased to 70km on Friday morning amid a rising number of buses and cattle-laden trucks.
He said the traffic situation worsened due to dilapidated condition of highways in many places between Dhaka and Tangail highway, and rising number of buses and cattle-laden trucks.
He said heavy load of vehicles forced the Bangabandhu Bridge authority even stop realising toll at 12.00 noon on the day which further intensified traffic congestion.
He said the Dhaka-Sirajganj route took 11-15 hours on Friday than normal time of 3-4 hours.
Our Tangail correspondent adds: There was a 30km tailback between Mirzapur and Elenga.
The area between Shalna and Bangabandhu Bridge also witnessed a tailback until Friday noon which later declined to some extent after the evening, he said.
Thousands of travelers also left the capital city by launch starting from Sadarghat terminal on the day.
Holidaymakers started reaching the terminal since the morning. But crowd intensified in the afternoon.
Rush of home-goers created nagging traffic congestion on the roads towards the terminal, although other parts of the city were mostly free from jam.
Braving scorching heat, many holidaymakers were seen walking long distance to reach the terminal in time.
A Barishal-bound passenger Abul Kalam said he reached the terminal at 2.00 pm though his desired vessel was scheduled to leave at 7.30 pm.
"We reached here earlier so that we can get on the vessel safely," he said, adding that he was ready accept any hassle to celebrate Eid with family members at his village.
Meanwhile, there were long tailbacks on both sides of Shimulia-Kathalbari and Paturia-Doulatdia routes.
Due to heavy current in the River Padma, ferries were moving slowly, leading a long queue of passenger vehicles.
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