SUKKUR / RAHIM YAR KHAN: Many passenger trains had to be halted at various stations for up to eight hours in the first half of Friday due to the derailment of a goods train at Mirpur Mathelo in Ghotki district.

The tracks were badly damaged after the locomotive and five carriages of the freight train derailed close to the city’s station.

The train was on its way to Karachi from Punjab. Both ‘Up’ and ‘Down’ tracks were closed to the rail traffic till the tracks were restored at around 12noon, according to Railways officials.

According to sources in the department, the tracks were uprooted and carriages separated from the locomotive.

The ‘6 Down’ Green Line remained stuck at the Rahim Yar Khan station for no fewer than eight hours after it was halted at around 4am. Its passengers experienced an unbearably long wait for the resumption of their journey and that, too, amid sweltering weather conditions.

Many trains halted at different stations; most people struggle to find food and water

Many other ‘Up’ and ‘Down’ trains, including Pak Business Express, Millat Express, Rehman Baba Express, Awam Express, Bahauddin Zakria Express, Tezgam and Karachi Express were halted at different railway stations on the main ML-I track within the Sukkur Railway Division.

They remain stuck at Liaquatpur, Khanpur, Rahim Yar Khan, Sadiq­abad, Daharki, Ghotki, Pannu Aaqil and Rohri railway stations, according to Railways sources.

At the Rahim Yar Khan station, Green Line passengers complained that neither the Railways ministry nor the local staff bothered to make arrangements for food and water for them during their eight-hour ordeal.

Some welfare organistions, realising the condition of men, women and children getting worse due to intense heat and unavailability of water, brought food and water to the station and served the passengers.

At Walhar station along Punjab-Sindh border, an ice cream vendor riding his tricycle pulled up and distributed the entire stock he had among perturbed passengers of another train free of cost.

All the stuck up trains were given green signal at about 12noon after a relief train hit the Mirpur Mathelo station when the work for the removal of derailed locomotive and carriages as well as restoration of the tracks was completed.

Published in Dawn, July 5th, 2025