LAHORE, Aug 22: Minister of State for Railways Ishaq Khan Khakwani says the derailment of nine wagons of the Parcel Express is not an act of terrorism. “How can derailment of a passenger and two goods trains within nine days be justified? Three bogies of Khyber Mail derailed near Lahore Cantt on Aug 13, a goods train derailed near the Gadani crossing in Sukkur and nine wagons of the Parcel Express on Malir Bridge on Aug 21,” the minister asked.

He termed the derailment sheer negligence on the part of railway administration which was being covered up under the garb of an explosion. “It’s a sin which must be looked into carefully,” said engineer Ishaq Khakwani who had been in the railways for quite some time.

Efforts, he said, were also made to declare collision of three passenger trains at Sarhad station an act of terrorism.

“People do shift responsibility on others. Had there been an explosion, the bridge would have been damaged, the track would have been blackened and the wooden sleepers would have caught fire,” Mr Khakwani maintained.

Sources at the railways headquarters said widening of the track caused derailment of the goods train.

“The voice heard by the train crew at the derailment was not of some explosion. It was because the wagons derailed and hit the track and parts of the iron bridge with a bang,” sources said.

Booking of the Parcel Express was privatized when Iqbal Samad Khan was the chief marketing manager. Private contractors book goods for Karachi from the goods offices at the Lahore and Badami Bagh stations and the parcel office. Same is the situation in Karachi where private contractors book goods from City, Cantt Malir and Bin Qasim stations.

Sources said items like acid and raw material for manufacturing fireworks were also being booked and transported by the private contractors who were overloading the wagons.

“The maximum capacity of the bogie-covered or BC wagons is 42 tons while contractors load up to 60 tons in them. This not only damages the wagons but also the track which widens because of overload and causes derailments.

There is another possibility, according to sources. A spark of the hot axle might have lit the explosive material or the acid drum that burst with a bang which the authorities were terming an act of terrorism. The effect of the blast derailed the wagons. “Such an accident at Karachi goods office some three years ago caused a loss of around Rs2 billion. Another such accident at Mughalpura had damaged goods worth millions of rupees,” they recalled.