Pakistan Railways emergency: safety measures in force until December 31, field officers’ leave cancelled
تصویر: پاکستان ریلوے کی مسافر ٹرین (فائل فوٹو — ہنگامی اقدامات کے اعلان کی تصویر نہیں)
Pakistan Railways declared an emergency on Saturday, with the measures set to remain in force until December 31. A statement from the department’s Lahore headquarters, issued on the instructions of Railways Minister Hanif Abbasi, says the step is aimed at ensuring safe train operations — at a time when more than 55 passenger and freight train accidents have already been recorded this year.
New orders for officers
Under the emergency, all leave for field officers has been cancelled for three months. Officers have been directed to visit the field on Sundays to supervise train operations, and officers travelling to other cities on official duty must now travel by train themselves — so they see conditions as passengers do. The chief engineers of the civil and mechanical departments will submit daily reports to the ministry on their areas of responsibility, and daily reports have also been sought from the head of safety. Abbasi said the government is committed to providing passengers with the safest possible travel, in line with the prime minister’s vision.
The backdrop: a long list of accidents
The decision did not come out of nowhere. Earlier this month, the derailment of the Rehman Baba Express near Sher Shah renewed questions about railway safety, and recent months have also seen freight trains derail near Khanpur, Khairpur and Kotri, and an incident involving the Pakistan Express near Kharian. Railway sources identify the Sukkur, Karachi and Multan divisions as the areas with the highest number of incidents.
Millions of passengers rely on trains every year for intercity and long-distance travel in Pakistan, so the question now is not just the department’s but the ordinary passenger’s: will this emergency actually change the state of the tracks, signals and coaches, or will it simply start a new round of reports? The answer will come in the weeks ahead, from the field reports — and from the accident figures.
