A nationwide strike by railway staff in Bangladesh brought train services to a grinding halt on Tuesday, affecting hundreds of thousands of commuters. The indefinite strike was sparked by a long-standing dispute over benefits, including overtime pay and pension benefits, that railway workers have been demanding. After giving authorities until Monday to meet their demands, the railway union's staff refused to work, turning off the country's train network.

The strike had a significant impact on Bangladesh Railway's operations, disrupting around 400 passenger trains, including more than 100 inter-city services, as well as over three dozen freight trains. Normally, the railway system transports approximately 250,000 passengers every day.

“We had train tickets for this afternoon to attend a concert,” spoke Reza Fakir, a rural folk singer from the southwestern Kushtia district. “But now we’ve had to buy bus tickets to get there, so we ended up paying double.”

The Bangladesh Railways Ministry announced that passengers with pre-booked tickets will be allowed to use them on bus services along key train routes starting Tuesday.

In a statement, the ministry emphasised that both Bangladesh Railway and the railways ministry were "very sincere and trying their best to meet the demands of the staff… we have been in regular touch with the finance ministry," urging the workers to end their strike.

Railway employees in Bangladesh, including drivers, assistant drivers, guards, and ticket-checkers, have frequently worked beyond their scheduled hours due to a shortage of staff. In exchange, they have traditionally received additional pay along with pension benefits based on those extra hours worked.

However, a controversial decision by the government in November 2021 to eliminate pension benefits calculated from overtime work has caused frustration among workers. They argue that the change undermines their financial security after retirement.

Although the railways ministry stepped in back in April 2022 to safeguard the pension benefits, workers are still worried that the current interim government, led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, might reinstate the old policy. Moreover, some newly hired employees have been left out of both overtime pay and pension benefits, with their appointment letters clearly stating that they won't receive these allowances.