LAHORE: In a major accident on the Faisalabad-Lahore rail section, the Lahore-bound 27-Up Sha­­­limar Express derailed completely on early Wednesday morning after colliding with a brick-laden tractor-trolley at an unman­ned level crossing between Sahi­anwala and Darulhassan stations.

The collision led to the suspension of Up and Down rail traffic on the Lahore-Faisalabad section, which remained disrupted for over 18 hours and had not been restored by 9pm on Wednes­day, the time of filing this report.

The impact of the crash left six passengers injured, who were shifted to a nearby hospital by rescue teams. Several others sustained minor injuries and chose to leave the site via road transport. The assistant driver was also injured, reportedly suffering facial trauma and broken teeth due to the force of the collision inside the engine cabin.

“The accident occurred at 3:22am. As the train approached an unmanned level crossing between Sahianwala and Darulhassan, a brick-laden tractor-trolley became stuck on the tracks,” said Tariq Latif, divisional superintendent (DS) of Pakistan Railways Lahore Division, while speaking to Dawn from the accident site.

Several injured as nearly all 15 coaches of Shalimar Express run off the track near Faisalabad

“Upon seeing the train’s headlights, the tractor driver detached the tractor and managed to cross the track, leaving the trolley behind. This caused significant damage to the train,” Mr Latif added.

All 15 coaches of the train derailed, damaging a 700-metre stretch of railway track. The locomotive was also heavily damaged after ploughing into the bricks. Mr Latif said he rushed to the scene at around 4:30am with a relief train and also summoned another relief train from Khanewal to assist with rescue and repair operations.

He confirmed that 44 passengers, apparently devotees, had already left the scene after arranging their own transport to Lahore. The remaining 89 passengers were transported by road through arrangements made by the Railways.

“There were only 133 passengers on board as most had already disembarked at Faisalabad. Fortunately, the two coaches directly behind the locomotive, which overturned, were empty,” he said.

Meanwhile, Pakistan Railways issued a preliminary report on the derailment, confirming that all 15 coaches and the locomotive of the Shalimar Express had derailed. Six coaches derailed completely, two overturned, while others sustained partial derailments.

Published in Dawn, May 22nd, 2025