–Passengers stranded at stations in major cities, including Karachi, Lahore, Rawalpindi, Peshawar and Quetta
KARACHI: Railway traffic between Karachi, Lahore, Rawalpindi, Islamabad, Peshawar and Quetta continued to be disrupted due to the derailing of more than eight bogies of a freight train near Rahim Yar Khan two days ago.
Passengers stuck at Rahim Yar Khan railway station lashed out at Railway Minister Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed and the railways authorities for the poor arrangements at train stations.
Stranded passengers complained about lack of drinking water and food at the stations. They said that no relief was provided to passengers that had been stuck for as many as 20 hours.
The derailment which had led 1,525 feet of train track unusable continue to disrupt the traffic on the route, causing losses to the tunes of millions.
According to a spokesperson for PR’s headquarters, train operations were fully restored on Tuesday after the field teams cleared both sides of the track in afternoon. However, an official of the PR associated with the Train Examination Department in Sukkur said that train operations to will only normalise in 48 to 72 hours, reported a local media outlet.
According to railways authorities, a goods train derailed in Rahim Yar Khan resultantly up and down tracks were closed for all kinds of traffic.
The closure of tracks resulted in the delay of Hazara Express, Shalimar Express, and Shah Hussain.
The railways authorities reached the scene and started operation to clear the track.
The officials of Pakistan Railways said that the delay is being caused due to lack of reserved bogies and engines which are now being used in newly launched trains.
“If the new trains had not been launched then trains could have been run on reserve engines and bogies,” the officials told media.
The officials further said that suspension of certain train services is being considered to fix the schedule.
After an initial inquiry report into the incident, the PR authorities have suspended three officials. Qasim Zahoor, the deputy divisional superintendent for Sukkur, has been suspended over unauthorised absence from his job since last Friday and the inefficiency shown by his team while conducting relief operations, it was reported.
