Criminals steal 4,000 metal clips from rails in city

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Trains to and from Dhaka early yesterday could have run into fatal accidents as criminals stole around 4,000 metal clips that tie rails to the sleepers between Banani and Cantonment railway stations in the city.

Bangladesh Railway officials termed the incident mysterious and suspected that it was an act of sabotage which could have resulted in several fatal train wrecks.

Rail communication between the entire country and Dhaka was suspended for five hours from 8:00am yesterday. The authorities replaced the missing clips on the two-kilometre stretch of tracks after a three-hour effort and with the help of 50 workers from a private company.

Chief Engineer of Bangladesh Railway Mohammad Abul Kashem told The Daily Star, “The clips on around two-kilometre stretch of rail lines between Banani and Cantonment stations were stolen by an organised gang sometime between midnight and 8:00am today [Friday].”

Terming it mysterious he said, “Sleeper clips are often stolen in areas where workshops and industries are located. In similar incidents earlier, thieves stole a few clips so that accidents do not occur immediately. But this time, no such consideration was given, which forces us to think that it may be an act of sabotage.”

The clips were removed from six rails of both multi-gauge lines between Banani Railway Station and Staff Road.

Bangladesh Railway sources claim it would have taken 10 people over five hours to remove the iron clips with proper equipment.

“The 4,000 stolen clips weigh around four tonnes and each clip could fetch Tk 110 to Tk 120,” the chief engineer said, adding, “It took the culprits at least three hours to remove the clips.”

“The cost of clips is not important… the theft could have resulted in accidents killing and injuring hundreds of people,” he said.

He said, “It is not possible to guard the entire railway lines 24 hours a day. We have Keyman who visit lines every 12 hours. Noticing the theft, he informed the matter to the authorities which suspended rail communication from 8:00am.”

Sub-inspector (SI) Rezaul Karim of Kamalapur Railway Police Station said the Egarosindhur Probhati from Dhaka to Kishoreganj had a three-hour delay. The train was stranded at Tejgaon Railway Station during the repair work.

The repair work of the Up Line was complete at 10:40am and Down Line was done at 11:35am.

The rail lines from Joydevpur to Dhaka are being converted to multi-gauge (metre-gauge and broad-gauge) from metre-gauge.

Abul Kashem said no punitive measures were taken against anyone for negligence in duty and no committees were formed to investigate the matter as of last night.

A general diary was filed in this connection with General Railway Police (GRP), which is investigating the matter, he said.

Mahbubur Rahman, officer-in-charge (OC) of GRP, told The Daily Star over telephone, “It is a theft incident and we are investigating the matter.”

Mystery shrouds the incident as Bangladesh Railway sources say it is quite improbable that none from the authority saw the clips being stolen. They say removing or installing clips is a noisy business and unlikely to go unnoticed.

A person can be sentenced to a minimum of 10 years’ to life imprisonment if found guilty of causing or trying to cause a train wreck, sources said.

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