LAHORE: Operation of two leading express trains—Business Express and Karakoram Express—has been suspended `temporarily’ due to massive drop in the number of passengers.

According a spokesman for the Pakistan Railways (Lahore Division), the drop in seat occupancy rate started with the beginning of Ramazan as most of people avoid travelling in this month of fasting.

“We have almost no passengers for these trains right now due to Ramazan. We hope both the trains will resume operations in next few days as booking increases,” he maintained.

According to him, those already having confirmed booking in the Business Express, which departs from Lahore for Karachi at 4pm daily, are being accommodated in Karachi Express that departs from Lahore for Karachi at 6pm daily.

Business, Karakoram to resume operations once booking increases; railways worker injured as train bogeys separate in Rahim Yar Khan

Similarly, he said those having confirmed booking for these days in Karakoram are being adjusted in Karachi Express (from Lahore) and Millat Express from the Faisalabad railway station.

To a question, the spokesman said the operation of Business and Karakoram was temporarily suspended from March 11 and 19, respectively. “There is no serious issue regarding operation of these trains. This is a routine matter,” he clarified.The cash-starved Pakistan Railways (PR), which has not even enough money to timely clear pension, gratuities and salary of its serving employees, plans to enhance its passenger, freight and other kind of revenue by all means through efficient use of manpower and other administrative, operational and financial resources.

According to the PR Chief Executive Officer, the department hopes to achieve its annual revenue target of Rs85 billion till June 30 this year which will be Rs22bn more than the last fiscal.

RAHIM YAR KHAN: A Pakistan Railways employee was injured when a Multan-bound train was separated into two parts at Liaqatpur on Sunday.

The Bahauddin Zakaria Express arrived at Liaqatpur Railway Station in the morning. Soon after its departure as it was crossing the northern railway level crossing at low speed the joint between two coaches broke due to which the train got divided into two parts.

Abid Hussain, a ticket checker, was crossing these coaches when they got separated and he fell on the railway track. He received critical injuries. Abid, a resident of Lodhran, got damaged and local residents with the help of Rescue 1122 shifted him to the Tehsil Headquarters Hospital Liaqatpur.He was later sent to the Bahawal Victoria Hospital Bahawalpur in critical condition.

The Bahauddin Zakaria Express remained halted until a technical team arrived from Samasatta and connected its two parts. The train departed after a delay of more than six hours.

According to sources in Pakistan Railways, an inquiry into the incident had been initiated.

(Irfanul Haq also contributed to this report from RYK)

Published in Dawn, March 25th, 2024