RAHIM YAR KHAN: The railway track between Khanpur and Rohri stations has been in a dilapidated condition since long because of various technical and operational issues, including staff negligence, theft of installation and poor maintenance, causing frequent derailments of passenger and goods trains.

According to sources in the Pakistan Railways’ Sukkur Division, because of the broken fish-plates, the 165km-long track between Khanpur and Rohri railway stations has become dangerous for trains.

As per the sources, some main locations where the track poses a threat to the trains are near Nooraywali level crossing, Rahim Yar Khan and near Adam Sahaba, Chandrami, Walhar, Reti, Dhandi, Dahirki, Ghotki, Mahisar, Sanghi and Khairpur railway stations.

They say that in this section, not only the fish-plates are broken, but the nuts and bolts of the joints (which connect one piece of railway line with the other) have either become loose or gone missing, posing a serious threat of derailment of trains chugging on the track.

Department high-ups fail to resolve theft, staff negligence issues

Similarly, the sources say, the cemented sleepers under the track have cracked and wooden sleepers are also in a dilapidated condition.

Because of the dilapidated track, many incidents of derailment of mostly goods trains have occurred on this section during the last couple of years, they add.

The sources say that the main reason for the poor condition of the track is theft of fish-plates and nut and bolts, occurring because of negligence and a lack of vigilance and monitoring by the railway’s technical staff concerned.

They say that the track is also used by various up and down passenger trains running between between Karachi and Lahore, Rawalpindi and Quetta, including Greenline, Tezgam, Pak Business Express, Karachi Express, Karakoram Express, Millat Express, Jaffar Express, Pakistan Express, Rehman Baba Express and Bahauddin Zakariya Express. Most of these trains pass from this dangerous section at a high speed of 100km per hour and above, they add.

On May 26, Karachi-bound Millat Express got derailed at the Sammasatta railway junction causing a delay of over an hour.

According to railways and police officials, the train was stopped at Sammasatta railway junction for repair of a mechanical fault in a passenger coach. After the repair, which delayed the train for about half an hour, as the train started moving at a slow speed, its engine got derailed.

Officials claimed that the derailment could have been caused by a change of signal points.

In another incident occurring the same day, the Rawalpindi-bound Thal Express coming from Multan narrowly escaped an accident near Mahmood Kot railway station, some 20km from Muzaffargarh city, when some thieves opened 15 joints of the track. Both incidents occurred in Multan Railways Division.

When contacted, PR spokesperson Hassan Tariq told Dawn that Sukkur Railway Division is a ‘transit division’ and in this section all passenger and goods train traffic operates at night.

Admitting that a lack of vigilance was a major issue, he says that the staff deputed for the purpose often skips duty and appoints lower staffers for patrolling at night who are often lax and negligent.

He says that in many inquiries it has been revealed that absence of staff and negligence by unqualified lower staff is the basic reason for such accidents.

The spokesperson adds that the triple train accident at Sarhad station and the one at Sanghi station were also caused due to the same reason.

He says the derailments have increased due to negligence of keymen and linemen who work under the supervision of Permanent Way Inspectors (PWIs). He says that these staffers visit their beats during day hours, and check the track with the latest gadgets, including ultrasonic detection tools and can detect even fine cracks on the track with a wheal gadget.

Mr Tariq says the cases of theft of the railway installations occur due to a lack of supervision that falls under the ambit of railway police. The theft of railway installations is treated as terrorism and also falls under the jurisdiction of Ministry of Defence, he adds.

In Sukkur Railway Division, he says, the issue of temperature difference is very significant and if any change occurs in the installations because of removal of any part, it may result in derailment because of expansion and contraction of the track.

About the sleepers, the spokesperson says that these were non-serviceable and often get broken. In the Sukkur Railway Division, he says the biggest issue is the balance cushion under the track. He says that because of this issue the sleepers can’t bear the stress and get broken.

Mr Tariq also mentions various other issues, including negligence by the cabinmen, who do not change the signals properly, causing derailments. Besides, he says, the ‘hammering effect’ is another issue which mostly occurs at some locations near Rohri where the terrain is uneven and when the driver speeds up the locomotive after a stop it wheel act as a hammer causing pressure on the track, resulting in its breaking.

Published in Dawn, May 31st, 2024