LAHORE: Passenger occupancy in the Karachi Express continues to decline despite implementation of the annual winter schedule from Oct 15 -- which the management earlier claimed will improve the situation -- forcing the authorities to cancel departures every now and then and troubling passengers.

The train’s schedule (both from Lahore and Karachi) was being cancelled almost daily before the new timetable was implemented for which official sources held the authorities concerned responsible for not devising effective plans for improving services and increasing passenger occupancy.

“It is a matter of grave concern that the train which used to earn profit due to large occupancy now has no or a meagre number of commuters. It could be because of those who have been entrusted with the planning and operations of the railways,” deplores an official source, who requested anonymity.

On the other hand, passengers with confirmed reservations of Karachi Express are suffering due to sudden cancellations. “A couple of days ago, I reached the station on time to catch the Karachi Express but found out that the departure was cancelled due to less number of passengers,” a passenger said. “I was accommodated in another train that took around two hours.”

He said a couple of weeks ago, some of his relatives had also faced the same issue.

On Oct 13, the railways Lahore management blamed less number of passengers for the cancellation of Karachi Express. “In such a situation we are left with no option but to cancel the departure and accommodate the passengers in another train (Shah Hussain Express),” Shireen Hina Asghar, the railways divisional commercial officer, had told Dawn on Oct 13.

On Monday also, the train was cancelled owing to low occupancy, according to a press release. But, an official source said the departure was cancelled due to the train’s late arrival here. “The train’s departure was cancelled on Monday after it arrived at the Lahore station with a delay of five hours,” he maintained.

Likewise, Pakistan Railways (PR) Chief Commercial Manager Farooq Malik had on Oct 13 claimed that the situation would improve after implementation of the winter schedule from Oct 15. “With the new timetable, Karachi Express’s departure time would be 4:30pm from Lahore for Karachi. Shah Hussain Express would depart at 7pm. Due to this gap of over two hours, the passenger occupancy for Karachi Express will improve,” he told Dawn.

When contacted, PR Divisional Superintendent Amir Nisar Chaudhry admitted that there were some issues of low passenger occupancy in the train. “The issues include delay in departure/arrival and sometimes shortage of coaches,” he added.

When asked why the train was being cancelled despite a change in timings, he claimed: “There are no passengers. But the occupancy will improve gradually since we have changed its time from 8pm to 5pm,” he hoped.

Published in Dawn, October 28th, 2020