• Six officials suspended; Saad Rafique says worn-out track another factor behind accident
• Sukkur division official had highlighted track faults in 2021

LAHORE / HYDERABAD: Foll­o­wing the death of over two dozen people in an accident near Nawabshah, the Ministry of Railways on Tuesday suspended six officials over negligence, saying the officials concerned failed to replace the engine after it developed a fault, and instead, ‘grea­sed’ the wheels as a temporary fix.

Speaking on the floor of the National Assembly, Railways Minister Saad Rafique said that two of the locomotive’s 12 wheels were jammed, but instead of replacing the engine, officials chose to apply a ‘quick fix’.

A source in the railways also said that a fault was discovered in the wheels of the engine pulling the Hazara Express at Kotri station, but the train was allowed to proceed on its way after applying more lubricant.

The railways minister confirmed the suspension of six officials, including two grade 18 officers, over the incident.

The minister also said the track was worn-out and should have been repaired by the officials concerned well in time. “So, there are two causes behind the accident,” he said, adding that a combination of the two factors caused the forward-most passenger coach to clamber on to the engine, leading to the derailment.

He blamed the PTI government for ignoring the track because of the delays in the ML-1 project. “Had the PR been given just Rs12 billion or so, track conditions in the Sukkur division could have been improved. Therefore, I would request the incoming government to allocate funds to save precious lives,” he said.

Responding to criticism regarding the placement of wooden joints or fishplates, which was being floated on social media as one of the reasons behind the crash, the minister termed such information “absolutely fake, false and baseless”.

“The fact is that without certain wooden joints, the entire train operation cannot work. In fact, the tracks are electrified and these joints… are used as insulation to control [the current]. These joints control the signalling system,” he explained.

“These wooden pieces are imported from Holland and Germany and linking them with the cause of the accident is just sheer ignorance,” Mr Rafique added.

Worn-out track

Neglect seems to be an endemic problem with the country’s rail network, and the sorry state of the overall mainline through Sukkur division is nothing new. In fact, a report submitted by a former divisional superintendent a few years ago pointed out that most serious incidents occurred in the Sukkur division.

Only three days ago, the Allama Iqbal Express escaped a disaster when two of its bogies derailed near Padidan railway station in Naushahro Feroze district.

“There are around 6,000 joints on both tracks in Sukkur division and the point where tragedy occurred is one of the welded joints,” Sukkur divisional superintendent Tariq Latif had told Dawn in June 2021 after the Millat and Sir Syed Express collided, resulting in the deaths of at least 65 persons.

Mr Latif’s report had been discussed at length in the National Assembly’s standing committee as well, but was filed away alongside other such damning reports.

The 2021 report mentioned that the tracks in this section “were mostly laid [between] 1962 and 1989… [they] have outlived their useful track life and need urgent replacement with new rails. Mostly sleepers have outlived their usefulness as they were laid [between] 1964 and 1984”.

During inspection, the official had noted, the track was found to be in a dilapidated state. “Running was found very rough, oscillatory, jerky, bumpy, camel riding, fittings/fastenings/joint bolts/fish plates found missing/loosely packed and not tightened properly.”

According to the official, this state of affairs reflected the “permanent way the subordinate staff is not taking interest towards the performance of duties properly although they were reprimanded time and again and served with show cause notices”.

Railways CEO Shahid Aziz did not respond to a request for comment.

Lack of accountability

Separately, NA Standing Committee on Railways Chairman Mueen Wattoo blamed officers “right from top to bottom” for the tragedy.

He said the 2021 report on the Sukkur division was discussed in the NA committee. “Everyone knows the main track needs refurbishment,” he told Dawn on Tuesday.

He lamented how the PR management did nothing in the wake of the report “Nothing happened after PR Sukkur division superintendent’s correspondences with his higher-ups. It was discussed in the meeting that an inquiry will be conducted into [the claims]. Exactly over two years down the road, we heard nothing about any such inquiry and now we are struck by the Sarhari tragedy,” Hyderabad MNA Sabir Kaimkhani remarked.

Published in Dawn, August 9th, 2023