LAHORE: As the railway aut­horities restored the rail traffic on Lahore-Rawalpindi track after laying a piece of new track at the affected portion near Mur­idke, an economy-class coach of Business Express train derailed in the yard of Karachi Cantt Railway Station on Saturday.

The derailment of the empty coach caused a delay of over one and a half hours in the departure of the 33-Up rail from Karachi to Lahore, according to an official source from Pakistan Railways (PR) Karachi Division.

It is pertinent to mention that the upgraded Pak Business Express train having newly refurbished coaches was inaugurated recently by PM Shehbaz Sharif at Lahore Railway Station.

On the other hand, after the Friday’s derailment of the Raw­alpindi-bound Islamabad Expr­ess, the Pakistan Railways (PR) teams completed the rescue, rel­ief and repair operation between Kala Shah Kaku and Murdike rail sections, restoring the train operations between Lahore-Rawal­pindi-Lahore sections on Saturday.

Preliminary report blames fresh rail breakage for Friday’s major accident

“Our teams worked whole night. They also worked on Saturday for hours for repair/maintenance and after which the rail traffic was restored,” Minister for Railways Hanif Abbasi said while talking to Dawn on Saturday. “We really appreciate the respective local administrations for helping us in relief and rescue operations. At present there is no any passenger admitted in the hospitals,” he maintained, adding that he would take up the issue of decaying rail track with senior officials.

Inquiry into derailment

In a related development, as a preliminary report confirms that fresh rail breakage was the core reason behind derailment of the Rawalpindi-bound Islamabad Ex­­press, the Ministry of Railways has appointed Federal Govern­m­ent Inspector of Railways (FGIR) Aamir Nisar Chaudhry to conduct an inquiry into the incident.

The inquiry will take place from August 4 (Monday) to August 6 at the Pakistan Railways Divisional Headquarters in Lahore. The final inquiry report would be submitted to the ministry within seven days, he said.

A team that inspected the accident site has also issued an initial report, terming breakage of the rail an only reason behind this major derailment.

Published in Dawn, August 3rd, 2025