LAHORE, July 25: The driver of the Karachi Express, the late Ghulam Muhammad, was on a salary of Rs6,300 and was with the Pakistan Railways for well over 30 years. His family told this reporter that Ghulam Muhammad, who joined the Pakistan Railways on March 5, 1976, at the age of 19, had been overburdened for the last three months or so when he was elevated to the A-plus category of loco drivers and allowed to run express trains.

“He drove the Karachi Express on July 11 from Khanewal to Rohri. He brought the Faisalabad (Millat) Express from Rohri to Khanewal on July 12 and was sent to take the Karachi Express from Khanewal to Rohri in the night,” Ghulam Muhammad’s father said.

“Colleagues say my son had drawn his salary on July 11. He had asked his eldest son to come to the Shujabad station where he was scheduled to bring the Chenab Express.

But a sum of only Rs1,000 or so was handed over to us along with his body,” he said.

“He had to work overtime —- 18 hours daily —- to feed his six children, three sons and as many daughters.

The eldest son is a class nine student,” he said.

Railways Minister Mian Shamim Haider had on Saturday told newsmen at the PR headquarters that the organization required at least 290 drivers. Quoting a summary of the Federal Government Inspector of Railways inquiry report, the minister said that the Sarhad train accident had occurred because of the negligence of the Karachi Express driver, the station master of Sarhad Station and a fireman.