LAHORE: A Lahore-bound goods train narrowly escaped a major accident at a railway station in Karachi in the early hours of Thursday morning after the driver suddenly applied its emergency brakes just before it was about to hit a stationary locomotive on the loop line due to a faulty signalling, interlocking and points system.

The driver succeeded in stopping the Super Parcel Express train only a few met­ers from the locomotive on the loop line.

Before this incident, the train’s locomotive had also developed a fault that was, however, rectified by the technical staff in an hour, according to an official and the documents available with Dawn.

“Thanks God, another train narrowly escaped from a horrible accident. And had the driver not reduced speed to 50km per hour while passing the Drigh Road station as precautionary measure in view of the faulty signalling system and decaying rail track, the train would have collided with the locomotive,” said Pakistan Railways train drivers association chief Shams Pervaiz while talking to Dawn.

According to an official report, the train carrying thousands of tonnes of goods from Karachi city station reached close to the Drigh station at 4.50am. However, the train, despite being given green signals, surprisingly entered the loop line where the locomotive (bearing No 8225) was standing.

“While approaching and passing Drigh Road station’s outer / home area, I found the signal green and points as settled for loop line instead of the main one. I applied emergency brakes and stopped the train after it entered the loop line,” reads a report signed by the driver, A. Saeed Baig.

Published in Dawn, August 3rd, 2019