Big danger could have occurred as people climbed onto metro train roof: DMTCL MD

Faruk Ahmed, managing director of Dhaka Mass Transit Company Limited (DMTCL), has said that a much bigger danger could have occurred when people climbed onto the roof of a metro train.

Speaking at a press conference on Monday at DMTCL’s conference room in Uttara, he said, “It is fortunate that the train was not electrified. Something much worse could have happened.”

On Sunday night at 8:05 pm, a teenager climbed onto the roof of a metro train, leading to a suspension of train services. Security personnel later used ladders to bring the teenager down, but no trains ran for the rest of the night, causing inconvenience to many passengers.

Faruk Ahmed said that the entire metro track was searched throughout the night following the incident. Train services resumed normally on Monday morning.

“Public safety is first. We will maintain this,” Faruk Ahmed added.

Describing the night’s events, he said, “Last night, we found one child on the train roof. Two others nearly climbed up as well. Video footage shows the child climbed from somewhere near Karwan Bazar, then came towards Agargaon. From there, he used a connection point between two trains to climb up, and finally reached the roof near Secretariat station.

“Security was immediately alerted, and train operations were halted. We do not know how many others were involved. We spent almost two to three hours searching the entire line. We tried to see if anyone was coming down. We physically searched throughout the night and even used a sweep train in the morning.”

Responding to journalists’ questions, he said, “All passengers should enter through public doors, but someone entered through a gap in one of the sixteen doors. Their motive is still unknown and will be investigated by the police.

“One security person cannot monitor someone at the back. We have provided CCTV for security solutions. We will improve vigilance from now on. CCTV cameras are also being installed beneath stations to at least track the origin of incidents.”

Seeking support from journalists, the DMTCL MD said, “Help me raise public awareness and social values. People’s values cannot develop overnight, and the media plays a vital role here. I cannot personally reach everyone, but through you, I can reach them. Without positive media, civic sense cannot grow.”

He also claimed that no physical damage occurred to the metro during the 5.7-magnitude earthquake on 21 November.

Faruk Ahmed added that passenger numbers have fallen by roughly 10 percent since the bearing pad incident. Previously, an average of 460,000 passengers travelled daily, but the number is now around 400,000.