LAHORE: The assistant driver of a Karachi-bound goods train was killed while the driver was injured after their train collided with the parted bogies of a goods train going ahead on the Habibabad-Renala Khurd section on Thursday morning.
A goods train, comprising 31 wagons, departed from Mughalpura (Lahore) for Karachi in the wee hours of Thursday. When it crossed Habibabad, some wagons parted from the train and stopped on the track. However, the driver and assistant driver kept running the train and even got line clearance at the Renala Khurd from the station staff despite the fact the train was parted into two portions.
It was followed by another Karachi-bound freight train. It also received line clearance from Habibabad station. Since the second train’s driver was not aware of the presence of the bogies already stopping on the track, he kept running his train. When he suddenly saw the bogies on the track, he applied brakes but could not stop his train from colliding with the rake (set of bogies joined). The impact left the young assistant driver, Imtiaz, dead and the driver injured. The locomotive was damaged while various wagons also derailed and goods containers fell off.
“It was a very horrible train tragedy. But there was no regret on the part of the railways minister and senior officials as all remained busy to receive and welcome the communications minister at the railways headquarters and show him the development works at railway station. No one bothered the death of assistant driver Imtiaz, as no one was present at the autopsy as well as his funeral prayers at the station. Only 5/6 people offered his funeral prayers,” deplores an official source.
“I heard that the CEO of Pakistan Railways (PR) visited the accident site. But he didn’t visit the house of the deceased assistant driver,” he says.
After the incident, a relief train was dispatched to the accident site to lift the capsized wagons and engine from the track and clear the section for the rail traffic. After many hours, the track was cleared. However, various trains on the way faced delays.
An initial investigation has held the Renala Khurda station master, guard and driver of the train responsible for the accident.
The inquiry also holds Renala station master responsible on account of giving line clearance to Habibabad without ensuring the complete arrival of the train. It further holds a train guard for not adopting safety measures as required and he failed to inform the railway stations and protect the train.
The probe said that the driver of the second train also failed to observe the caution orders, observe the load standing ahead and failed to control his train due to speeding.
On the other hand, the railway police has taken the driver of the train, which collided with the parted rake of the next going train, guard of the first train and the assistant station master into custody for investigation.
“The FIR is yet to be registered in this regard,” said an insider.
Published in Dawn, September 12th, 2025
