Laksam Train Derailment: Engineer Suspended for Not Reporting Track Repairs, Probe Committee Formed

A sub-assistant engineer of the railway's engineering department has been suspended over the derailment of the Karnaphuli Commuter Express in Laksam, Cumilla. He was suspended on allegations that although track repair work was under way at the accident site, the information was never given to the railway's control room. The railway authorities have also formed a four-member investigation committee to find the cause of the accident.

Chattogram Divisional Railway Manager Mostafizur Rahman Bhuiyan disclosed the information around 11pm on Wednesday. The suspended sub-assistant engineer is Sarwar Alam, who was in charge of the Feni region under the engineering department of the railway's eastern zone. The track repair work near Naoti station's outer area, adjacent to Ajgara Bazar in Laksam, was being carried out under his responsibility.

At around 12:30pm on Wednesday, five coaches of the Karnaphuli Commuter Express, along with three wheels of its engine, derailed in that area. At least seven passengers were injured. The injured received first aid locally; none of them was seriously hurt.

Mostafizur Rahman Bhuiyan said that before starting track repair work, the concerned engineer or sub-assistant engineer is required to inform the railway's control room. But although repair work was under way at the site at the time of the accident, that information was not given to the control room. Sarwar Alam has been temporarily suspended on charges of negligence of duty. He added that an investigation committee has been formed, and final action will be taken after receiving its report.

The four-member investigation committee is headed by Chattogram Divisional Transport Officer Farhan Mahmud. The committee has been instructed to submit its report within three working days.

Inquiries revealed that although track repair work was under way in the outer area of Naoti station, the matter was not communicated to the Nangalkot or Laksam railway station authorities either. Even the train driver, or locomaster, knew nothing about it. Laksam Railway Junction station master Omar Faruk Bhuiya said no one from the engineering department informed them about the track repair. Under the rules, when the engineering department works on a track, it must inform the stations before and after the site — but that was not done in this case.

The train's locomaster, Moazzem Hossain, said he was not informed that repair work was under way on the line. At 12:20pm on Wednesday, after receiving a "line clear" signal from Nangalkot station, he started towards Laksam station. Although repair work was going on along the way, neither Nangalkot nor Laksam station warned him. Since the accident, the locomaster has maintained that had he known about the work in advance, he could have taken measures accordingly.

Earlier, Jaydev Shil, assistant executive engineer of the railway engineering department's Feni region, told journalists that both the traffic and engineering departments might bear responsibility for the accident. The issues being examined include why the train did not stop even after a red flag was shown, and why, although work had been going on since the previous day, the necessary instructions or information were never formally sent.

Meanwhile, after the accident, a relief train was sent to the site from Chattogram. After the relief train arrived on Wednesday evening, work began to remove the derailed coaches and repair the damaged track. Because of the accident, train movement on the up line of the Dhaka-Chattogram railway was suspended, while trains in both directions were kept running on the down line.

Railway workers have continued the recovery work at the site, and efforts are under way to restore train movement on the up line once the work is complete.

The accident has raised major questions about coordination inside the railway. The news of the repair work reached neither the control room, nor the two neighbouring stations, nor the train driver — so a passenger train ran straight onto a track where work was in progress. Fortunately there were no fatalities. It is now up to the investigation committee's report to establish exactly where the responsibility for this breakdown in coordination lies; the railway authorities say final action will be taken against those found responsible once the report is received.