In this land of newer and hitherto unheard-of scourges, a few involving the rail tracks emerge as the latest on the list. Using these tracks as normal walkway like those meant for pedestrians is one of them. A section of people got habituated to walking in the rail tracks despite the great hazards staring them in the face. It is especially the youths, who are found engrossed in gossiping over mobile phones, apparently oblivious to the speeding trains. This perverse fad might lead to fatal accidents. But the macho urban youths of Dhaka cannot be deterred. Front-page news reports with vivid photographs of the scene have not worked.
The startling aspect of the episode is the railway authorities have consistently kept mum on the horrific practice. For their part they could at least come up with a public notice in the media alerting people to the hazards of walking along rail tracks. Many overanxious people have suggested fencing-off of the two sides of the tracks as could be seen in many countries. Nothing happened. The idea has evidently fallen on deaf ears, like that happens to many such ideas concerning public safety. The nervous segments of society now just keep bracing for deaths or injuries on the rail line-turned-walkway any moment.
Of late, there has been a spurt in minor and devastating train-motor collisions at level-crossings. The malady covers almost the whole country, where railway is a chief mode of transport. The countrywide length of rail tracks has not increased much from the pre-independence 2,877 kilometres (km). The number of level-crossings at the points where the rail lines cut across motor ways now stands at 2,541. Of them, 2,170, or 85 per cent of the total, do not have any formal rail-crossings with bars. Nor do they have any gatemen or signal lights. Those having locally installed improvised arrangements are run without guards or signals. At some of these open crossings, notice-boards near the points ask vehicle drivers and pedestrians to cross the rail tracks on their own responsibility. Calling the sight a mess or terrible mismanagement amounts to belittling the grave nature of the problem.
In the decades after the nation's independence, the road network and the number of automobiles has increased phenomenally. Many areas outside large cities have long been making do with locally arranged level crossings with bamboo or wooden poles. What all this results in are automobile-train collisions. Most of them end up in fatal accidents. Deaths and grave injuries from these mishaps at rail crossings are common incidents these days. Parallel to the fast increase in vehicular and pedestrian movements through these intersections, the incidence of accidents has been on the rise. To the people's bafflement, the railway and other authorities remain unconcerned with them. They have their own defensive points like those of lack of funds and manpower. The tragic incidents are normally followed by routine probe committees. Few of them go public.
The recent incident of a full-speed express train ramming a car on a level-crossing at Kaliakoir in Gazipur was a chilling reminder of the danger lurking in the country's level-crossings without formal bars. The collision left all the five people of a family in the car dead. To people already inured to these fatalities, the accident may carry only a numerical significance. The scenario is uncannily similar to those that have unfolded at many such sites before. In this case, no guards manned the level-crossing. Level-crossings without bars or guards are a common sight in the rural areas. As a consequence, on average 30 deaths occur at these venues.
Deaths of people on level-crossings are sad. So are those involving persons, who nonchalantly walk up the tracks. The railway authorities cannot shirk their responsibility for these mishaps. But these also warrant awareness of the people. These are senseless, avoidable deaths.
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