Bangladesh Railway operates 3,000 km of track, averaging one level crossing per kilometre. Nearly half of these crossings lack the authority’s approval. Even at approved crossings, the railway fails to provide the required staff. Though critical to sound rail management, the railway treats them as a neglected appendage where accidents are frequent.
Railway figures put the network’s level crossings at 3,104: 1,881 legal and 1,123 illegal. Despite frequent Accidents at those illegal crossings — nearly 37 percent of the total crossings in the country — the railway has taken no effective action.
Legal crossings alone require 6,000 gatekeepers in total. The railway employs only about 1,500 permanent gatekeepers plus another 1,500 working under various projects. Even on a minimum staffing basis of three per post, more than 5,000 personnel are required at authorised crossings. For class A, class B and special crossings, which need several times the minimum number, the total requirement surpasses 6,000. Despite a formal workforce of 47,634, the railway conspicuously avoids recruiting gatekeepers. It also declines to give permanent contracts to experienced temporary staff who have worked for years. By remaining indifferent to this critical part of train operations, the railway lets the risk of accidents rise unchecked.
Level crossing keepers say they work multiple shifts in sun, rain and storms. They describe level crossing management as the most neglected part of rail operations. The railway uses temporary staff and project-based workers to provide a semblance of safety at legal crossings, but it disregards its own rules that provide for regularising temporary workers at set intervals. Even when long-serving staff obtain court orders to join as permanent employees, the railway refuses.
Mohammad Subaktagin, general manager of the railway’s eastern zone, told Bonik Barta: “Ensuring safety at level crossings has become difficult. Because of accidents, we’re now prioritising underpasses and overpasses when we build or upgrade rail lines. Alongside public awareness, we must focus more on permanently closing illegal crossings. After several major accidents, the railway now wants to take coordinated, effective action on level crossings.”
Data show the riskiest crossings lie in the eastern region where, out of 1,488 crossings, 729 are legal and 759 illegal. Local influential figures build illegal crossings mainly because of land development along the Dhaka–Chattogram line and other mainlines serving the two cities. A few years ago the railway administration tried to close illegal crossings using wooden barriers or old rail lines, but locals dismantled the obstacles within days. In many places, when the railway attempts to shut an illegal crossing, it meets resistance and retreats.
The transport department said many illegal crossings are built when the Local Government Engineering Department, the Roads and Highways Department, city corporations and municipalities construct roads. Despite discussions among the agencies, none has reached a consensus to resolve the problem. The railway has also failed to prevent illegal crossings that add to frequent major accidents. In the latest incident, early on Sunday, a bus that had climbed onto a level crossing in Cumilla district was hit by the Dhaka Mail, an up train from Chattogram. Twelve people died and many bus passengers were injured. The railway has formed two investigation committees.
Allegations persist that after most accidents, investigators pin the blame on gatekeepers or low‑level railway staff. Once inquiries finish, the railway administration’s reluctance to implement recommendations turns accidents and deaths at the crossings into a routine occurrence.
Railway’s western zone’s data show 1,616 legal and illegal crossings in its area: 451 manned, 801 unmanned and 364 illegal. Legal crossings number 1,152. But beyond the railway’s own records, illegal crossings, acute manpower shortages and official neglect of level crossings despite huge investment have made rail accidents severe.
“Running a level crossing properly is technology‑dependent and expensive,” Md Afzal Hossain, director general of Bangladesh Railway, told Bonik Barta. “We maintain safety at legal crossings with permanent and temporary staff. Still, we face a manpower shortage. We’re trying to increase staff in this sector. At the same time, we must rethink how to manage the illegally built crossings.”