THIS is a repeat of the repeat of the repeat. Just when Pakistan Railways was getting all the right reviews an accident has occurred, this time at Sheikhupura, killing at least three and injuring several. Khawaja Saad Rafique’s journey as railways minister has been replete with sweet, satisfying runs that are invariably followed by bad news. It is like a formula film whose director is setting the audience up for an abrupt advent of tragedy by first throwing in a healthy dose of feel-good sequences. The railways under the talkative minister is said to have come out of its moribund state and moving towards a stage where a transformation can at least be hoped for. So much about the trains has improved; the time register, to begin with. Freight traffic that had come to a virtual halt before the PML-N government took over has improved. Passenger trains have been turned around just when they were about to depart the scene, and passenger confidence has been sufficiently restored to ensure a sizeable portion of estranged and wary travellers have returned to the railways ticket offices. All this has been made possible by big investment, not of just money but of ideas. To compare; at one time the number of passenger trains leaving the Lahore junction, where Pakistan Railways is headquartered, had dropped to around 50 from a peak of more than 100. Plenty of revamping later, the figure now stands just short of 90.

Therein lies the contrast. It is indeed successes like these which make everyone wonder as to why the current, very active setup is so lacking in effectively addressing a fundamental problem, that of safety. One possible short answer to this may be that like so many other typical PML-N advances the railways initiative, too, suffers on account of speed. The government is keen on doing the job and it is eager to do it fast, in the process having little time to deal with some basic issues that need elaborate strategy arrived at after long deliberations. The minister in charge says security involves many more than just the railways. But this is a very powerful government, capable, surely, of ridding the train routes of dangers bred by too much activity and too lax security around the rail tracks, which were on the verge of being abandoned in recent years. It should also concentrate on this aspect with single-minded commitment.

Published in Dawn, March 30th, 2017