KARACHI, Aug 1: Trains’ arrival and departure at two major railway stations in the metropolis remained disturbed owing to rains in Karachi and other parts of the province.

Almost all trains, which were arriving at the city about 10-15 hours late, have now been arriving here some three-five hours late and this would further improve as the railway was taking measures to follow the train schedule, a railway official on condition of anonymity told Dawn.

He said that the Karakoram Express, which was arriving some 8-10 hours late, arrived its final destination on Friday at 1:00pm, some five hours late. It was to arrive at around 8:00am. “However, we have made it ready for departure in no time and it left the city for Lahore on its right time, at 4pm,” he added.

The Divisional Superintendent of Railway, Karachi, Asrar Alvi said the timings of trains’ arrival and departure had improved and the trains were arriving just an hour or two behind their schedule. He said: “The arrival timings of train has been disturbed due to rains.”

About the phone number of railway inquiry, he said the old number had been replaced with two other numbers i.e. 9213564 and 9213565. “These numbers have been centralized and people can confirm the arrival and departure timings of their desired train. Besides, 117 is also intact with 15-lines. Two operators at a time entertain the callers,” Mr Alvi added.

People complained that there was no response from 117 as whenever the number was dialled, either the bell continued to ring or it remained busy.

A railway official said that the concerned people had been calling 117, but the operators either left them ringing or put the receiver aside to avoid receiving calls and there was no one in railways to take notice of public grievances.

Passengers and their relatives were faced with severe hardships as the schedule of trains’ arrival and departure was badly disturbed due to rainfall in the country.

The people who came to receive their relatives had also faced problems upon realizing that the trains were late for many hours.

A complainant pointed out that the railway officials themselves were not sure about the exact or at least expected time of trains’ arrival and they resort to misguide the information seekers.

The sources said that the communication and signalling network of the railways which is also known as microwave system had gone out of order between Karachi and Sukkur an year back, but the railways failed to repair it due to which its internal communication system collapsed.

The officials had to use PTCL lines to get connected. It was an expensive mode of communication, the sources said.

They said the automatic signalling system was also not working properly and it went out of order during rains.

The trains are now being run by the manual signalling system, which was also a major cause of delays in the arrival and departure of trains.

Sources said if the automatic signalling system is restored, the train timing schedule could be followed to a greater extent.

They said that the railway authorities had announced that they would establish an emergency centre at railway stations to guide the intending passengers about railway timings, but no such arrangements had so far been made causing immense hardships to passengers and their relatives who come to receive or see off their beloved ones.