LAHORE: Five wagons of a goods train derailed on Monday in the yard area of Kala Shah Kaku Railway Station, disrupting the both Up/Down rail traffic for hours on the main line between Lahore and Rawalpindi.

However, the relief operation took several hours to restore rail traffic, as the officials could put two of five derailed wagons on the track by 8:30pm.

“The stone-laden goods train had been unloaded in the afternoon along various stretches of the main line requiring maintenance. But when the train was being brought/shunted toward the loop line from the main line, where it unloaded the stone, five of its wagons derailed. It caused blocking of the track for both up/down rail traffic,” PR’s Lahore divisional superintendent Aamir Nisar Chaudhry told Dawn.

The DS said since the derailment caused suspension of the rail traffic, the PR authorities diverted various on-the-way trains to a branch line so as to reach Lahore and Rawalpindi via Sangla Hill, Hafizabad and Wazirabad.

According to an official source, the trains that were diverted to the branch line from the main line included 14-Down Awan Express and 103-Up Railcar.

Published in Dawn, August 27th, 2019