LAHORE, April 1: More than 50 people who had reserved seats in the Shortkot-bound Badr Express were refused refund after the train was ‘cancelled’ on Saturday evening. The ‘multi-purpose’ train runs with different names. It leaves Shorkot early morning and reaches Lahore at 8am. Then, under the tag of Non-Stop, it makes a trip to and from Faisalabad. At 6pm, it again leaves Lahore for Shorkot as Badr Express.

People who had booked their seats for Toba, Gojra and Shorkot found the train missing from the platform at 6pm on Saturday. Railway inquiry said it was half an hours late. At 6.30 the inquiry said it would depart at 7pm.

When the train did not reach the platform even at 7pm, worried passengers visited the station master’s office only to learn that the train had broken down near Sangla Hill after its departure from Faisalabad at 3pm.

The SM office was not sure when Muhammad Iqbal and some other passengers approached it again at 7.30pm to know when the train would reach Lahore. The SM himself was not available.

When they demanded refund, an official at the SM office advised them to visit the PR headquarters from where they had got their reservation.

Iqbal said at the headquarters more trouble was in store for him and five dozen other passengers. He said the booking staff asked them to go to the railway station and get their tickets stamped from the SM.

When told that the SM was not on duty, the staff said they could not do any favour without SM’s stamp. The PR, it may be added, refunded only 50pc fare in such cases.

The exhausted passengers then left for their destinations by road.

When contacted, a PR inquiry official said the Non-Stop had broken down at Salarwala near Sangla after one of its coaches caught fire due to electric short-circuit. He said the train resumed its journey after some three hours following the detachment of affected coaches.

He said it reached Lahore at 10pm and subsequently left for Shortkot as Badr Express.—IA