Late arrival of the passenger trains has become a routine matter making annoyed commuters switch to other means of transportation, while Pakistan Railways (PR) administration continue to blame the signal system and mechanical faults for constant delays, Pakistan Today has learnt.
Almost all major passenger trains have been running late for a month, while the PR authorities have not paid heed to the matter except blaming shortcomings in the railways infrastructure for delays.
Pakistan Today monitored the express train schedules at the Lahore Railway Station for Monday. All incoming trains were one to six hours late. Late departures were also observed, which revealed the poor working of the PR operational wing at Lahore.
Large queues of passengers and relatives were seen outside the Lahore Railway Station inquiry office, with some passengers complaining of misbehaviour of inquiry office staff for their failure to guide passengers appropriately.
70000 get late everyday:The delays in the arrival of trains cause problems to some 60,000 to 70,000 passengers every day. The consistently poor performance of the railways has forced most passengers to opt for other means of travel. Though the track record for Pakistan Railways has always been awful when it comes to timings, the current situation has been the case for the last nine months and no improvement has been observed in the trains’ timings.
As passengers opt to travel via other means and freight trains continue to run late, the railways’ earnings have declined even further.
A passenger Ilyas Khan told Pakistan Today that he intended to travel to Peshawar and he had been waiting with his family for the Quetta Express for two hours, and had now decided to travel by road, as travelling by bus was better than having to endlessly wait for a train.
Train delays: Karachi Express’ scheduled arrival time was 3.45pm but it arrived an hour late at 4.45pm, Tezgam Express was expected at 3.15am but it reached at 4.15am, Allama Iqbal Express was supposed to arrive at 11.15am but arrived at 4.35pm, more than 5 hours late. Quetta Express, due to arrive from Quetta at 8.40am but it arrived at 4.20pm (almost 7 hours late), Tez Gam schedule time was 5pm but it could not reach Lahore till 8pm( 3 hours late), Jaffer Express was due to arrive at 5pm but it was also late and was expected that to reach Lahore Railway Station at 9pm (4 hours late), Badr Express was scheduled to reach at 1.30 but arrived at 2.45 (1:15 hours late).
Similarly, Farid Express, Shah Shams Express, Khyber Mail and Faisal Express were 2 to 6 hours late than the scheduled time.
The situation was similar regarding departure of trains from Lahore for different destinations as almost every train including Chanab Express, Badr Express Margala Express, Narowal Passenger, Karachi Express, Okara, Sarghodha, Lasani, Ravi and Baoo trains departed to their respective destinations one to three hours late.
Needing bailout: PR Public Relations Director Mohsin Yusaf said the authorities had been trying their best to follow the schedule but the old and faulty engines were the reason behind delays since they heated up and stopped functioning. Infrastructural flaws were another reason behind the inability to follow schedule, he added.
Mohsin said the only way the situation could change was if PR received large amounts under a bail out package. He said that government has conveyed to the railways that the funds under a bail out package would be given in July and if the commitment was fulfilled, railways operations would improve.
