While the intense summer sun blazed down on railway stations across the country, hundreds of passengers sat on platforms waiting for several unending hours for their respective trains to arrive. The failure of the trains to arrive on time left them in a terrible state, especially since they were fasting.
And to top it all, the Pakistan Railways has cancelled operation of 25 trains due to scarcity of engines amid depleting stocks of oil. Sources in the Railway Headquarters Lahore said 25 trains from Lahore, Multan, Peshawar, Narowal, Sama Satta, Rawalpindi, Wazirabad, Sargodha, Kundian, Malikwal and other branch lines had been cancelled due to unavailability of engines. The situation has affected hundreds of people everyday, as they wait in the summer heat for their trains to arrive and the situation in Ramadan has worsened.
Trains traveling from Quetta, Peshawar and Karachi to Lahore were delayed by two to about 10 hours. Due to unavailability of locomotives, five trains which were to travel from Lahore to smaller cities had still no chances of leaving. Awami Express which travels from Karachi to Lahore was delayed by seven hours while Jaffar Express, Allama Iqbal Express and Karachi Express were late by six hours. Similarly, the Karakorum Express was stuck by four hours, the sources said. The uncertainty attached with the timings of the departure and arrival of trains was causing inconvenience to the public. Sources at the Karachi City Railways said hundreds of cargo coaches were stationary and waiting for departure. However, due to the unavailability of locomotives, they were late as usual.
“The Pakistan Railways is facing a severe financial crisis,” said Pakistan Railway Workers’ Union President Manzoor Ahmed Razi, who stressed that if the government wanted the department to improve, it seriously needed to look into investing into it rather than selling it to private or foreign companies. Meanwhile, the PSO warned the Pakistan Railways to pay the outstanding amount of Rs 880 million at its earliest, threatening otherwise to suspend its oil supply.
