Two passenger trains escape major accidents after derailment in Punjab

Two passenger trains escape major accidents after derailment in Punjab

LAHORE: A series of derailments of the trains is exposing negligence and deep-rooted issues of the Pakistan Railways (PR) regarding maintenance of trains and tracks across the country. During the last 24 hours, two passenger trains, Shalimar Express and Pakistan Express, narrowly escaped from major accidents after derailment while a third minor accident also occurred on Jaffar Express on the track near Gujar Khan. According to reports, Lahore-bound Shalimar Express (27-Up) entered the loop line, hit the sand hump and finally derailed after the braking system didn’t work, making the driver unable to stop the train in the wee hours of Thursday. However, luckily all passengers and crew remained safe as only a couple of coaches and the locomotive faced derailment. Officials said the teams in a relief train reached the site quickly from Lahore Cantt Railway Station, detached the coaches, including locomotive, from the derailed ones and despatched the train from Lahore for Karachi around two hours late from the actual departure time of 7:10am. Third also faces minor issue; series of derailments expose systematic flaws in railways “On receiving information, we dispatched the relief train and the officials/officers concerned for carrying out a relief operation amid shifting the passengers to Lahore and other rescue activities,” an officer concerned of PR Lahore Division explained while talking to Dawn. “Our teams worked whole night, making the operations staff able to dispatch the train for Karachi with a delay of not more than one-and-a-half hours on Thursday morning,” he claimed. “Our teams also made the affected locomotive fit for operation on Thursday evening,” he added. In another incident late on Wednesday, a power van of the Karachi-bound Pakistan Express (46-Down) derailed near Kharian on the mainline but again there was no major accident fortunately. “Had this power van, which was the last one in the rake, existed in the centre, the entire train would have fallen down after the horrible derailment,” the official said. According to him, the power van, after the derailment, disconnected from the rake with separated wheels and parts and there was a gap of around 1.5km between the train and the van. The driver stopped the train and informed the railway authorities in Rawalpindi division about the incident. The rescue teams finally dispatched the train with a new power van and removed the affected power van from the track. According to the official, a third incident happened on Thursday after the Quetta-bound Jaffar Express’s power van derailed near Gujar Khan, forcing the railway officials to rush to the spot and dispatch the train after separating the derailed van from the rake and connecting the new one with it. “However, it was not the dangerous derailment like the aforementioned ones,” he said, adding that these recent incidents also caused disruption to the PR’s train operation. When contacted, PR Chief Executive Officer Hafeezullah confirmed the accidents, saying that they happened due to lack of maintenance in the last five years. “You will see that improvement will start appearing soon as we have undertaken a series of the maintenance that remained deferred for the last five years,” he claimed. About a month back, Yousafwala coal train had derailed near Firoza Railway Station (between Khanpur and Liaqatpur) after it ran into the sand hump on the loop line, apparently due to weak brakes or the driver not applying brakes timely. Eleven wagons of a goods train, along with its locomotive, derailed near Feroza Railway Station of tehsil Liaqatpur. The same day, a passenger train (Rawal Express) derailed near Kala Gujran in Jhelum district on the Main Line-1 (Lahore-Rawalpindi track), disrupting the railway operations. Since July this year, about 10 train derailment accidents have happened. Published in Dawn, October 2nd, 2026