Trains canceled across Bangladesh as rail union goes on strike Trains were canceled across Bangladesh on Tuesday as railway staff went on strike for higher pensions and other benefits, affecting tens of thousands of passengers and freight transport.
Saidur Rahman, acting president of the Bangladesh Railway Running Staff and Workers Union, said the strike was called after a meeting with the interim government headed by Nobel Peace laureate Muhammad Yunus failed to reach a deal late Monday.
Fouzul Kabir Khan, the country's railway affairs adviser, told reporters that such a nationwide strike was “regrettable” and he urged the protesters to end the strike.
The main Kamlapur Railway Station in the capital, Dhaka, was mobbed by hundreds of disappointed passengers who were not aware of the strike.
The state-run railway system carries some 65 million passengers per year in the densely populated nation of 170 million people.
