A senior railway official has been temporarily suspended following the derailment of a Dhaka-bound Karnaphuli Commuter train near Naoti Railway Station in Azgara area of Laksham on Wednesday afternoon, which disrupted rail services and injured several passengers.
The derailment occurred around 12:40pm to 12:45pm when the train’s engine and three to five carriages went off the tracks, allegedly after proceeding without any advance warning or caution order regarding ongoing track repair work.
Following the incident, Bangladesh Railway temporarily suspended Md Golam Sarwar, Senior Sub-Assistant Engineer for the Feni region, on charges of negligence.
The decision was announced on Wednesday by Chattogram Divisional Transport Officer Farhan Mahmud, head of a newly formed four-member investigation committee, while inspecting the scene as rescue operations commenced five and a half hours after the crash.
Railway authorities also dispatched a rescue train from Chattogram to recover the derailed engine and carriages.
Loco Master Moazzem Hossain alleged that he had received line clearance from Nangalkot Railway Station without any speed restriction or caution order, despite workers carrying out repairs on a disconnected track.
Travelling at a normal speed of 40–50 kilometres per hour, Hossain spotted a red warning flag roughly 100 metres ahead, sounded the whistle, and attempted emergency braking.
He noted that because the train was moving at a lower speed when it came to a halt, the severity of the damage and casualties was minimised.
Nangalkot Station Master Jamal Hossain, who issued the line clearance, confirmed that neither his station nor the control room had received any message or notification about ongoing maintenance on the line.
According to an Assistant Executive Engineer of Bangladesh Railway’s Feni region, track repairs had reportedly been under way since Tuesday without official written instructions, indicating potential administrative lapses in both the traffic and engineering departments.
Passengers, however, reported that the train appeared to be travelling faster than usual after leaving Nangalkot Station shortly after 12:20pm.
The sudden derailment triggered widespread panic, leaving several passengers with head and body injuries that required first aid, while more than 300 passengers continued their journeys using alternative transport.
Although the Dhaka-bound up-line was damaged and blocked, train movement along the Dhaka-Chattogram route remained operational via an alternative down-line while work continued to restore the main track.
Railway Divisional Transport Officer Md Mostafizur Rahman confirmed the setup of the four-member probe committee under Farhan Mahmud to determine the cause of the derailment.
Repeated attempts to contact Laksham Junction Station Master Omar Faruk for comment were unsuccessful.
