LAHORE: A Karachi-bound freight train derailed after it was diverted to the dead-end at the Gamber Railway Station near Okara Cantonment to `avoid a major disaster’ on Saturday.

It led to suspension of rail traffic on the mail line for over seven hours. One of the two locomotives hauling the train and four container-laden wagons overturned on the Up-track after hitting the dead end. For some commuters using the national highway running parallel to the ML-1, it was shocking to see an engine and four container wagons lying up to 20 feet away from the track. “The impact of the derailment was so huge that a locomotive was almost lying close to the highway,” a car driver told our Sahiwal correspondent.

An initial PR report held the driver of the leading locomotive responsible for not applying brakes properly that forced the station staff to shift the train to the loop line (sand/earth filled dead-end) in a bid to avert a major crash.

“In fact, we don’t consider such derailments as accidents, as diverting a train to the dead-end means to control and stop the train by all means whether it hits the sand dune or not,” Pakistan Railways’ Chief Executive Officer Amir Ali Baloch told Dawn.

Rejecting the CEO stance, the Train Drivers Association (Lahore division) president Irfan Iqbal said the lead driver had tried hard to stop the train but couldn’t do due to the faulty brake system in 28 of the total 38 container-laden wagons.

PR holds lead drive responsible, drivers body says the brake system of 28 of 38 wagons was faulty

“How come a driver stop the train when so many wagons have faulty brake system.” he asked. “Our drivers do lodge complaints in this regard, but they are always told about the shortage of parts,” he maintained.

Quoting driver Shah Muhammad who was operating the first engine, Iqbal said Shah tried to contact the assistant station master (Gamber) but he didn’t attend his call. “In fact he tried to contact the station master to know whether he is required to stop the train at the station for the purpose of loading/unloading goods. But when he didn’t respond, the driver kept the train running. But when he found the train diverting to the dead-end, he applied brakes but it was too late,” he explained.

He said the driver of the train had been told at the Prem Nagar Station (near Lahore) that 17 of the 38 wagons were without any brake system that is generally called as “Dummy” in the PR operational term. He said driver Jamshad, who was in the second locomotive, faced multiple injuries after his locomotive overturned.

“The first engine driven by Shah Muhammad stopped after hitting the dead end. But the second locomotive overturned, injuring driver Jamshaid,” the association president said.

According to the initial investigation report, when the driver failed to stop the train, it forced the station staff to divert the train to the loop line.

“We have jointly attended the site of derailment of locomotives No.6409 and 6420 and loaded wagon numbers 94390, 90171 and 94386 ZBFC (Down-M Container train) at loop line No.4 (Okara Cantt station) and concluded that the engines hauled the load of 38/76 wagons of the down M containers. During reception of the train on loop line, the SM on duty informed the driver that the train has been put on the loop line No-4 due to running of a train (ZBKC) ahead. But the train driver failed to control the speed of train as per starter signals,” reads the report.

It said that the “train speed was more than 50km per hour that resulted in derailment of both locomotives and three loaded wagons. The team which compiled the initial report also observed that the brake cylinders of locomotives and wagons were in releasing position that means the driver didn’t apply the brakes and there were no skidding marks on the track which showed that the driver failed to apply emergency brakes and over-shooted.”

It further said the derailment took place due to driver’s failure to control and observe the loop line speed (15km per hour). Therefore, the overshooted driver is held responsible,” says the report compiled and signed by three officers.

Shafiq Butt from Sahiwal also contributed to this report

Published in Dawn, February 23rd, 2025