TAXILA: Karachi-bound Awam Express derailed near Taxila on Thursday, causing suspension of railway traffic between Rawalpindi and Peshawar.

No causalities were reported in the incident, railways authorities said.

They said the train coming from Peshawar derailed due to “technical” reasons and the train traffic would be restored soon.

After the repair of the affected track and the removal of damaged coaches, the section between Peshawar and Rawalpindi will be opened.

Muhammad Suleman, a passenger on board the train said that as soon as the train exited from the Margalla tunnel, some of its coaches behind the power engine derailed with a loud bang.

He said that as the train was at its maximum speed at the time of the accident, it split into two with some locomotives left behind.

Another passenger Javaid Khan said the railways officials detected some fault in one of the coaches of the train at Attock Railway Station and asked the train driver to fix the issue at Rawalpindi Railway Station but it met an accident before reaching Rawalpindi.

A railways official, who wished not to be named, said that the train crew detected the fault in the wheel of one of the bogies at Attock Railway Station as there was no arrangement to replace it mid-way, so it was allowed to continue its journey.

Soon after the incident, local police, railways police and senior officials of the Railway maintenance department rushed to the scene to investigate the incident and initiate rehabilitation work on the main track.

Due to the incident, schedules of the Karachi-bound Rehman Baba Express and Hazara Express among other trains were affected.

Published in Dawn, March 14th, 2025