Rajshahi-Abdulpur railway in a shabby state

The very important Rajshahi-Abdulpur rail line under the Western Railway has now turned into a death trap, with 35 kilometre stretches of the 45-kilometre track becoming extremely dilapidated and risky.

To avoid major accidents, the speed of trains on this route has been reduced from 95 kms to 40 kms. As a result, terrible schedule disruptions are taking place every day, making thousands of passengers sufferers.

It has been seen on the ground that the life span of this British-era railway has ended 50 years ago. In most places, the wooden sleepers have rotted in the sun and rain and there is an acute shortage of necessary stones on the line.

Currently, if cracks appear on the line in extreme heat or cold, it is repaired only with 'pairs of claps'.

Although a project was taken up in 2000 to upgrade this single line to a double one, it could not pass the feasibility study even after two decades.

Investigation revealed that the railway line breaking or surviving a train accident is not a new incident on the Ishwardi-Rajshahi route.

Several major accidents have occurred in the last 2-3 years. Thousands of train passengers have been saved from major fatal accidents with the help of conscious train drivers and local people.

In 2025, two feet of the railway line broke after the Banglabandha Express from Rajshahi to Panchagarh passed through Sardah Road station.

Locals lit lights and stood on the railway track with red cloths in the dead of night to stop the Rajshahi-bound Sagardari Express train from leaving Khulna.

Otherwise, the train carrying 700 passengers would have faced an accident. Train services were suspended for three hours in this incident. Six passenger trains suffered.

Earlier, the railway line broke before reaching Lokmanpur station. Seeing this, some locals stood up with red cloths. The train driver stopped the train. More than 150 train passengers were saved from the accident of the Ishwardi-Rohanpur-bound Intercity Commuter Express No. 57.

In addition, a 10-inch rail line broke near Sardah Railway Station. A farmer saw the incident and called the locals and stopped the Rajshahi-bound 'Barendra Express' train by blowing up the red cloth nearby. This saved the lives of about 500 passengers on the train.

Earlier, 850 rail passengers on the Dhaka-bound nonstop 'Banolata Express' train were narrowly saved from a major accident due to the intelligence of two farmers. Seeing the broken rail line, they blew up the red cloths and made a target. Seeing the red target, the driver stopped the train.

Some 15 inches of the Arani Rail Bridge line broke. Seeing the incident, the temporary gatekeeper there stopped the Uttara Express train by raising a red cloth and saving the passengers.

According to relevant sources, the last major renovation of the railway line from Rajshahi to Abdulpur was in 1962. After that, no further renovation work was done. Work to convert this 45-kilometer railway line from single broad gauge to double gauge was started around 2000.

Even after two decades, there has been no desired progress in that project. The project is still at the feasibility study stage. As a result, trains are running at a much lower speed on the dilapidated railway line.

Pakshi Divisional Transport Officer (DTO) Hasina Khatun told The Financial Exopress, ``13 pairs of intercity, 4 pairs of mail and 3 pairs of local trains run on this railway line under the Pakshi Divisional Railway in the north-south region including the capital Dhaka. The railway line needs to be renovated quickly to avoid fatal accidents."

Pakshi Divisional Engineer-2 Najib Kaiser told The FE, "The life span of the railway line on the Abdulpur-Rajshahi route has already exceeded 50 years. It is now the demand of the hour to lay a new line on this route. The feasibility study of the double line project has started on the instructions of the current government's Railway Ministry. The Western Railway Engineering Department has continued that effort."

Pakshi Divisional Railway Manager (DRM) Abu Hena Mostafa told The Financial Express, "People feel comfortable riding trains compared to roadways. However, people travel by train from Rajshahi to all over the country due to the low cost and less suffering. The trains have been run safely ahead of Eid. The renovation work will start soon."

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