LAHORE: Rail traffic remained suspended on the main line for hours after a coach of the Karachi-bound Business Express derailed near Khairpur station on Sunday morning. A passenger was also injured, according to Pakistan Railways (PR).

“Karachi-bound business express train’s coach derailed at 5am on Sunday morning near Khairpur station, leaving the PR operation suspended on Lahore-Karachi section,” said a spokesperson for the PR in a press release. “A passenger also received a minor injury due to derailment,” he added.

He said after the derailment, a relief train was dispatched to the spot at about 5:30am. Similarly the officials of respective PR’s division also rushed to the site to put the derailed coach on track and dispatch the train for Karachi. “Moreover PR’s CEO Dost Ali Leghari and respective additional general managers monitored the relief operation at the control room of the [PR] headquarters,” he said.

The spokesman said the operation was restored at about 3pm after the engineering staff put the derailed coach on track and dispatched the train.

On the other hand, a number of passengers of the [derailed] train and those travelling by other trains, which were stopped at various railway stations due to the track blockade, faced a deal of inconvenience.

“For the last one year or so, train accidents have now become a routine matter. But sadly no one in the government is paying attention to the issue,” an official source in the PR deplored while talking to Dawn.

Published in Dawn, January 27th, 2020