August 06, 2006	Sunday	Rajab 10, 1427

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LAHORE, Aug 5: The Federal Government Inspector of Railways (FGIR) will hold an inquiry into the collapse of a bridge near Karachi that resulted in suspension of rail traffic to and from the Sindh capital for over five days.

Floodwater had on July 30 damaged three spans of bridge No 85, situated at kilometre No 78/4-5 between Ran Pathani and Dhabeji stations, forcing the Karachi division authorities to suspend the operation of all upcounty trains and halting all downcountry trains at Hyderabad.

FGIR Imam Din Bhatti will hold inquiry at the committee room of Karachi Divisional Superintendent’s Office on Aug 9 and 10 and at the Lahore Railways headquarters on Aug 15 during office hours.

A railways release issued on Saturday said any member of the public having knowledge of the incident and matters connected therewith and desirous of giving evidence may do so on the above-mentioned dates and places or write to the FGIR by Aug 20.

Meanwhile, all major trains from Karachi reached Lahore late.

The Karachi Express (15-up) reached Lahore at 5.45pm against its arrival time of 10.45am; the Karakoram Express (41-up) reached at 11am instead of 7.45am, the Tezgam (7-up) at 5.15pm against the arrival time of 1.30 pm.

The Allama Iqbal Express (9-up) arrived at Lahore at around 9pm instead of its arrival time of 11.10am while the Awam Express (13-up) arrived at 12 noon instead of 8.25am.

All but the Karachi Express (16-down) left Lahore according to the scheduled time. The Karachi Express was late by two hours as it left Lahore station at 8pm.