QUETTA: Train drivers went on strike on Sunday alleging that most trains had defective engines.

The drivers gathered at the Quetta railway station and told divisional officials that they would not run passenger or goods trains with old and faulty locomotives.

Divisional Superintendent Faiz Mohammad Bugti told Dawn that only Jaffar Express had left the station for Rawalpindi, while the scheduled departures of Bolan Mail, Akbar Khan Express and Chaman-bound trains were cancelled.

He said the striking drivers had urged the railway authorities to take steps to ensure safe running of trains. The drivers’ demands, he added, had been conveyed to the railways headquarters.

Mr Bugti said the drivers would end the strike on Monday and all trains would leave Quetta as per schedule.

He said Jaffar Express and Akbar Bugti Express would reach Quetta late in the night.

Mohammad Hussain, a senior driver, said 10 of the 13 locomotives in Quetta were out of order.

He said a number of drivers and other staff had lost their lives in accidents on the Quetta-Sibi route caused by old and faulty locomotives.

“We lost our five colleagues, including an experienced driver, a foreman and three others, in the last week’s train accident which claimed about 20 lives,” he said.

The striking drivers were of the view that the Akbar Khan Bugti Express escaped another disaster on Saturday night when an express train coming from Rawalpindi derailed near the Sariab railway station.

Thousands of passengers, women and children among them, are stranded at the Quetta railway station in extremely cold weather.

“Over 2,000 passengers waited for several hours because there was no driver to take the Bolan Mail to Karachi,” passenger Mohammad Akram told Dawn.

Our Staff Reporter adds from Lahore: The rail link to and from Quetta with the rest of the country remained suspended for around 22 hours.

The worst-hit were passengers of Akbar Bugti Express and Bolan Mail.

However, those who decided to take Jaffar Express and Chaman-bound trains were a bit lucky as the trains started leaving Quetta after a delay of six hours or so.

An office-bearer of the All Pakistan Train Drivers’ Association, who wished not to be named, told Dawn by phone that the railways administration were trying to blame the drivers for the disruption of train services, instead of admitting their failures.

“Enough is enough. We are held responsible for every accident on the track. Actually most of accidents are caused by obsolete rolling stock and track, including the falling of a train into a canal in Gujranwala or derailment of another at Aab-i-Gum. We are blamed even for derailment of a locomotive near Sariab,” he said.

A Pakistan Railways spokesperson regretted that the passengers had to face inconvenience owing to cancellation of the Akbar Bugti Express and Bolan Mail.

“Derailment of a locomotive wheel of Akbar Bugti Express near Sariab on Saturday blocked the track. As a result, passenger coaches and locomotives meant for two trains could not reach Quetta on time, forcing cancellation of Akbar Bugti Express and of Bolan Mail on Sunday. The locomotive was put on track and rail traffic restored by Sunday noon,” he said.

Published in Dawn, November 23rd, 2015