Trains were cancelled across Bangladesh, with rail workers going on strike demanding higher pensions and other benefits, according to AP News.
The strike affected tens of thousands of passengers and freight traffic. Saidur Rahman, acting president of the Bangladesh Railway Running Staff and Workers Union, said the demonstration was called after a meeting with the interim government led by Nobel Peace laureate Muhammad Yunus failed to reach an agreement late Monday night.
Rahman said the strike would continue until the government accepted the demands. The main Kamlapur Railway Station in the capital Dhaka was filled with hundreds of frustrated passengers who were unaware of the strike. Many waited for hours before travelling home.
Fouzul Kabir Khan, the country’s railway affairs adviser, urged the protesters to end the strike. “Doors for discussion” were open to resolve the dispute, he added.
Railway workers protested in Chattogram, the country’s second largest city. In the northwestern Rajshahi region, angry passengers smashed furniture at the station and attacked railway staff, according to local media.
The state-run railway system carries about 65 million passengers in a country of 170 million people. It employs about 25,000 people and has a network of more than 36,000 kilometres (22,000 miles).
