LAHORE, April 21: Trains’ operation continued to be disrupted on Saturday due to the protest drive of the signals staff demanding pay raise.
Arrival of major trains at Lahore and Karachi stations was delayed by two to six hours.
The railway signals staff adopted the ‘go by the book policy’ two weeks ago to press their demands for revision of salaries, withdrawal of cases registered against their leaders at the railway headquarters and eight-hour working day.
The authorities at the headquarters, however, said trains ran behind schedule owing to ‘loco loss’ and severing of the main signals link near the Ravi Bridge.
An official said a tractor-trolley had hit a pole carrying overhead cables at a crossing on Friday, severing the signals link between the Badami Bagh and Shahdara sections.
“The signaling system on the section, called the auto-block, is one of the most advanced we have. Involving fibre-optics, the system is very sensitive and we are trying our best to restore the link at the earliest. We are running trains on the paper link clear system, the station master concerned delivers authority to proceed by hand to the train driver and the procedure consumes time,” said the official. Covering the distance between two stations in more than the scheduled time by a train is called loco loss.
Officials at railway headquarters said eight express trains arrived late in Lahore and five in Karachi.
Karachi Express arrived in Lahore at 3.30pm instead of its scheduled time of 11.40am, Buraq Express at 9.43am instead of 6.55am, Tezgam 4.40pm instead of 1.40pm, Allama Iqbal Express 2.30pm instead of 10.40am, Jaffar Express 3.10pm instead of 12.30pm, Quetta Express 2.45pm instead of 11.25am, Karakorum Express 11.40am instead of 9am and Jaffar Express at 3.45pm instead of 12.30pm.
Farid Express arrived in Karachi at 1.20pm instead of its scheduled time of 10am, Karachi Express 4.20pm instead of 11.30am, Bahauddin Zikariya Express 1.40am instead of 10.45am, Millat Express 9.25am instead of 8.05am and Karakorum Express at 10.39am instead of 9am.
The employees had decided on April 12 at a meeting of the Pakistan Railways Signal Staff Welfare Association to adopt a ‘work to rule policy’ because their pay scales have not been revised since 1974.
