Bearing-pad crash from metro-rail pillar kills pedestrian

Tragedy struck down a young man as an about 100-kg bearing pad of metro-rail pillar crashed on him while crossing the area near its Farmgate station on Sunday noon, sources said.

Witnesses and official sources said the bearing pad from pier number 433 suddenly slipped and hurtled down on the pedestrian soon after a train set of MRT 6 crossed over it towards Farmgate metro station from Agargaon side at around 12:30.

Two bearing pads from the pier's one side had fallen, but one hit the victim falling from nearly 13 metres above, killing him on the spot, officials and police confirmed.

After the accident, metro-rail operation totally halted till 3:00pm. Train operation resumed partly from Uttara North to Agargaon as track and guard rail on the accident spot got badly bent, impeding train movement, officials added.

Police identified the victim as Abul Kalam, 35, of Shariatpur district. He was a resident of Narayanganj district and involved in travel-agency business.

Fall of bearing pad from the elevated Mass Rapid Transit line (MRT 6) is second such accident since it was launched on December 30, 2022.

The first mishap occurred on September 18, 2024 when bearing pad from pier no 430, two piers behind 433 pier, fell off on the street. There was no casualty in the accident, however.

Both piers are located in-between the critical curve part of the 20.1- kilometre MRT 6 and also starting point of its height increase from Bijoy Sarani to Kawran Bazar.

Meanwhile, Road Transport and Highways Division (RTHD) of the government formed a five-member investigation committee headed by Bridges Secretary Mohammad Abdur Rouf. The committee will take support of experts from Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, and Military Institute of Science and Technology.

A press release issued by the RTHD said the committee will submit a report within two weeks after reviewing the report of the first investigation committee. "It will identify persons responsible for the accident and also recommend averting such kind of accidents in the future."

Shortly after the accident, Rail and Road Transport Adviser Mohammad Fouzul Kabir Khan and the Managing Director of Dhaka Mass Transit Company Limited (DMTCL) rushed in the spot and visited the Suhrawardi Hospital to see the victim in the morgue.

The Adviser declared Tk 500,000 for the victim family members and assured of giving work to one able member.

He is survived by his wife, two minor children and six siblings.

"We will take full responsibility of the victim," the adviser said, pointing to the DMTCL.

After the accident, the FE correspondent talked to metro-rail consultants and DMTCL officials to find preliminary reasons as similar accidents occurred at the same place within over a year. Both confirmed that falling off bearing pads is a rare case in the world as one in 20 years is found.

But MRT 6 Project and DMTCL officials do not overrule scope of fault in design stage due to occurrence of similar kind of accidents at the critical part of the MRT.

One argues that as almost 215tonne weight crosses in-between pier and girder or viaduct, abrupt disposition of bearing pads cannot be possible unless there is some gap in-between the weight and the pad.

'In both cases, bearing pads slipped and fell at the curve points. Despite regular inspection of 620 piers, there might be some gaps in the design or construction," said one of the officials on condition of anonymity.

He, however, added that investigation might find out the real causes.

Bearing pad is made of rubber and steel and fitted between the piers and viaducts to absorb vibration and stabilize elevated structure.

However, a source from consultant side told the FE that bearing pads which are placed at four corners of all piers might move with train movement but it is always placed properly during regular inspection as part of routine maintenance work.

He also said bearing pads are usually changed five years after installation.

The DMTCL MD, Faruque Ahmed, however, said confirmed reasons might be revealed after reviewing design and construction issues.

He told the FE over phone that two bearings from one of the piers fell, which is "not usual", and the cause can be found after "functional and integrity inquiry".

The MD also said the DMTCL's Saturday inspection report shows the bearing pads were in proper place at the accident spot.

After the first accident, the DMTCL also formed a committee comprising members from design consultant and construction- supervision consultant and invited foreign consultants.

However, the report was not disclosed, but officials said DMTCL worked on the recommendations placed by the committee. These include drone inspection of all the piers and bearing pads, monitoring the pads through 24-hour cameras from all points and the placing of angles at all corners of the bearing pads to prevent slipping.

None could confirm of implementation of all the recommendations of the first investigation committee. But an insider said the first report did not disclose any reason.

Following Sunday's overhead traffic accident, passenger sufferings heightened due to the disruption to the MRT-6 operation for two and a half hours and resumption of the operation partly from Uttara to Agargaon.

Many passengers had to leave all MRT stations after waiting long as well as returned due to closure of all station gates due to the reason. The disruption also affected the city traffic due to an increase in passenger numbers, as 450,000 regularly use the MRT.

The MD said they were trying their best to resume the entire MRT operation "as soon as possible after completing full functional and integrated tests overnight due to severe damage to track and guard rail following the bearing pad fall".

A trial test might be carried out in the morning, he added.

Talking to Tejgaon police, it is learnt that no case was filed till the filing of the report, but the deceased was handed over to family members after completing formalities around 7:30 pm.

ASI Hannan told the FE that the process was to file an unnatural death case.

smunima@yahoo.com