LAHORE: The Pakistan Railways has sought an explanation from its Quetta divisional superintendent (DS) over a recent train collision with a truck/trailer near Dalbandin and launched an inquiry into another incident in Multan division.

The inquiry team, headed by director (safety), railways ministry (Islamabad), is currently stationed in Multan, Dawn has learnt.

“In recent days, the PR top authorities have issued warning notices to all DSs (Lahore, Peshawar, Rawalpindi, Multan, Sukkur, Karachi and Quetta) to perform with devotion and vigilance to ensure smooth operations or go home. Through these notices, a message has been sent to the DSs that they would be taken to task in case of any issue in their divisions,” a senior PR official told Dawn on Sunday.

The PR, especially in the last couple of years, has been in trouble due to frequent train accidents, including those occurring at the level crossings for various reasons.

The official said it had been decided that in future, the respective DSs would be held responsible in case of any significant issue rather than punishing the junior officials. In a fresh precedent, the official added, an explanation from the Quetta DS had been called over a horrible accident near Dalbandin. This accident completely damaged the locomotive and a stretch of the railway track worth millions.

“After receiving the explanation, the PR’s department concerned would assess whether permission for holding a regular departmental inquiry against the DS should be sought from the prime minister or not,” the official added.

He said an inquiry team from Islamabad was stationed in Multan as it was also decided that the ministry would hold inquiries, especially into the safety issues, against the officers rather than leaving this task to the PR Headquarter (Lahore).

Talking about the delay in floating the international tenders for the Chinese firms for executing the ML-1, the official said the matter was in the negotiation phase.

“Under the CPEC requirement, it is necessary to finalise all terms and conditions, terms of reference, tax exemption and payment for the Chinese companies, arbitration in case of any dispute etc before issuance of international tenders and initiation of the bidding process. These all matters are currently under discussion and the government has replied to all questions/queries coming from China,” the official explained.

Published in Dawn, September 28th, 2020