Trains collide head-on at Kamalapur

One dies, 20 hurt; wrong signal blamed
Two passenger trains collided head-on in outer signal area of Kamalapur Railway Station in the city yesterday afternoon due to wrong signal.
The accident caused a huge damage to two carriages and engines of the trains, killing a security guard of the railway and injuring 20 people, six from railway.
Following the mishap, the rail communication remained suspended for five and half hours on the four railway tracks from 1 to 4 at Kamalapur station. Trains began plying on the numbers 5,6,7 and 8 tracks of the station after one hour’s suspension. The railway communication became normal at around 9 in the night, railway sources said. 
The Bangladesh Railway authorities formed a four-member probe committee headed by its Chief Engineer Nur Mohammad. The committee was asked to submit its report in three days. The railway authorities, however, suspended two station managers allegedly for their failure to properly signal the trains.
Railway police and witnesses said, a Dhaka-bound passenger train, Mahanagar Probhati (bearing number ‘down-721’) coming from Chittagong  and a Mymensingh-bound local passenger train, Isha Kha Express (bearing number ‘up-39’) collided head-on at Diamond Point (a point where more than three lines join), in the outer signal area of Kamalapur Railway Station at around 2.40pm.
Mahanagar Probhati started journey from Chittagong at around 7:15am with 12 carriages and around 700 passengers, while Isha Kha Express at around 2.30pm with five carriages and around 350 passengers from Kamalapur Railway Station.      
In the collision, one each carriage of the two trains and two engines were badly damaged. Two security guards performing duties standing on the front side of the Mahanagar Probhati were critically inured in the accident, as one of them, Nahid Hossain, fell down and crushed under the wheels of the train and the other, Abdur Rahman, was sandwiched when the trains collided head-on.  
The seriously injured two security guards of the Bangladesh Railway Security Force and a passenger, Rafiqul Islam, were rushed to the emergency department of Dhaka Medical College Hospital, from where Nahid was rushed to the Orthopaedic Hospital and died there.   
Witnesses said the Mahanagar Probhati was waiting in the outer signal area near Khilgaon Bazar in the city for more than five minutes, as the signal light showed red.
“As the light turned green, the Mahanagar Probhati started moving towards Kamalapur station slowly, and at the same time the other train also was seen leaving the station on the same track. Suddenly, the two trains collided and one compartment skidded off from the track, said Alamgir Mia, a passenger of Mahanagar Probhati Express.
“I saw the accident as I looked out thrusting my head outside the window due to which I got hurt due to heavy jerk of the compartment,” he said. He said he found two security guards and a passenger to be seriously injured at the guard’s van of the very first compartment next to the locomotive.
The compartment was packed with passengers and almost all of them got hurt in the accident, he said.
Following the accident, senior railway officials, including Director General Belayet Hossain, visited the spot.
Talking to newsmen, Belayet Hossain admitted that the accident took place due to a ‘great blunder from the signal cabin’.
“As per rule, two trains cannot stay on a single track at the same time, and in this case, the rule has been violated,” he said, adding that stern action would be taken against the officials responsible for the accident.”
The railway chief said that a four-member probe committee was formed with chief engineer (east) Noor Mohammad as head. The other members of the committee are chief operations superintendent Shah Zahirul Islam, additional chief mechanical engineer Ratan Kumar Sarker and chief engineer of signal and telecom Khondokar Shahidul Islam.
The Dhaka divisional engineer, Arifur Rahman, who also visited the spot, said that the accident caused minor damage to the locomotives of the two trains while a compartment of Mahanagar Probhati was damaged badly as it went off the track. The compartment next to the locomotive of Isha Kha Express was also badly damaged. But the compartments and locomotives are repairable, he said.
Platform station manager Khademul Bashar and cabin station manager Saiful Islam were suspended ‘for their failure to properly signal the Probhati’, said TA Chowdhury, an additional director general of the railway.
Another additional director general Qazi Asadullah said they were suspended following the primary investigation by rail authorities including the director general.
Over 80 staff of the railway with a salvage crane started removing the off-tracked locomotives and carriages from the spot. The rescue operation ended at around 8:15pm, said Dhaka divisional commercial officer Mia Jahan.

Courtesy of The Independent