LAHORE: A man was killed and 10 others were injured, three of them seriously, when locomotive and three carriages of the Karachi Express derailed on Sunday near Premnagar station after colliding with a trailer stuck on the tracks.
The driver of the long vehicle died on the spot as the trailer fell into the nearby Rohi Nullah. The injured included chief commercial manager (freight) of Pakistan Railways, his assistant and the train driver.
A witness told Dawn by phone that the official deputed at the Bachoki level crossing, between Raiwind and Premnagar stations, had started closing the gates (before the arrival of the train) when the speeding trailer got stuck on the tracks.
“The train was at a high speed and the driver applied brakes but it was too late. The locomotive hit the trailer and went off the track, dragging along two passenger and a railway officers’ coaches,” said Hussain, a passenger of the Karachi Express, which left Lahore for Karachi at its scheduled time.
He said that some cars and a wagon were damaged after being hit by the derailed coaches.
A Railways Lahore division officer confirmed that Chief Commercial Manager Syed Dildar Hussain was going to Karachi on an official visit and his coach, attached next to the locomotive, also derailed, injuring the senior officer and his assistant.
The officer said that relief trains had been dispatched to the crash site while Awam and Green Line Express trains had been sent to Karachi via Faisalabad.
“The Khyber Mail has been detained at Sahiwal station. Arrangements are under way to send Musa Pak to Multan via Faisalabad in case the track is not cleared by midnight,” said the officer, adding that a goods train also derailed on Wazirabad-Gujrat section. No one was reported injured as the train went off the track at Haripur Bund station, said the officer, adding that the Lahore-bound rail car had been stopped at the Wazirabad station.
Meanwhile, the bogies which escaped derailment were brought back to Lahore and sent to Karachi via Faisalabad after addition of some coaches.
In yet another incident, the locomotive of Green Line Express failed at Bhalike station on Sheikhupura-Sangla Hill section.
Published in Dawn, November 30th, 2015
