A four-member committee has been formed to investigate the accident.
TBS Report
21 October, 2026, 09:05 pm
Last modified: 21 October, 2026, 09:09 pm
A communication failure between the railway engineering section and station masters is suspected to have contributed to the derailment of the Karnaphuli Express in Cumilla today (21 October), after officials said they had not been informed about the situation on the line before giving clearance for the train to pass.
Three coaches of the train derailed near Naoti Railway Station in Nangalkot around 12:30pm, leaving several passengers injured and disrupting train services on the Dhaka-bound line.
Jamal Hossain, station master at Nangalkot Railway Station, said the engineering section had not informed them about the situation, so they cleared the line.
Omar Faruk, station master at Laksam Railway Station, said they had also received no information from the engineering section. After receiving line clearance from Nangalkot, they gave the train a green signal, he said.
According to Faruk, the procedure requires the engineering section to inform the station masters at both Laksam and Nangalkot, but this was not done.
Locomaster Moazzem Hossain said he had received no signal from Laksam station or any other location and entered the section after receiving line clearance. He said he suddenly spotted a red flag when the train was about 100 yards away and applied the brakes, but the coaches derailed.
A four-member committee, headed by the transport officer of Bangladesh Railway's Eastern Zone, has been formed to investigate the accident. The committee will examine the circumstances surrounding the derailment, officials said.
Several passengers said the train had left Nangalkot station shortly after 12:20pm and was travelling faster than usual. After passing Naoti station, the coaches went off the rails, causing panic among passengers. Several sustained injuries while trying to get off the train.
Train services resumed around 30 minutes after the accident, according to the information provided.
A rescue train from Laksam later took the coaches that had not derailed to Nangalkot station. The train departed for Dhaka at 6:30pm, while four derailed coaches remained at the scene as recovery work continued.
Attempts to contact Feni railway sub-assistant executive engineer Joydeb Shil for comment were unsuccessful.