LAHORE: Pakistan Railways (PR) is currently facing serious financial, operational, human resource and other challenges, leaving the authorities with no option but to continue the entire passenger and freight trains operations with inadequate arrangements.

The situation is also putting the passengers and crew safety at stake, besides resulting in damage to coaches, wagons, locomotives, tracks etc, ultimately causing a rise in accidents.

In several meetings, including the one held here at the office of divisional superintendent (DS) on Tuesday, some of the officers raised various issues being faced by them while performing their duties, Dawn has learnt.

“Only in Lahore Division, comprising a considerable railway network, we are facing 50 per cent shortage in the total sanctioned staff strength,” reveals a senior official of the PR’s Lahore Division.

“But, we are unable to resolve this issue. The major issue is lack of funds. Even to get a small amount like Rs500,000, we need a considerable time to argue our case with the PR headquarters. How you can expect from us to give our best in such a situation. However, against all odds, the officials are doing well,” he argues.

Though the lack of financial, human and other resources has always been a major issue in the railways department, the situation has been worsening, especially during the last 6/7 years, touching its peak in 2026. Though the outgoing chief executive officer also made huge efforts

to keep the trains moving and ensure the employees receive pay on time, he too faced similar challenges.

“In this situation, we are facing hardships in operating the trains. When you have little money, you have to resort to makeshift arrangement to continue trains’ operation. To meet operational challenges, the staff has to remove parts of some coaches and other rolling stock to fix other coaches. You can’t even imagine how we are working these days,” he explains, adding that all the eight divisions of railway – Lahore, Karachi, Multan, Sukkar, Quetta, Rawalpindi, Peshawar and Workshop — have been facing serious issues related to lack of resources.”

According to the senior official, some of the officers attending the meeting held on Tuesday, told the Lahore DS that the situation is making it impossible for the existing staff to achieve operational and revenue targets of the department.

Speaking on the occasion, DS Inam Ullah Khan urged the officers to improve the trains operations by making the interlocking (signalling) system fully functional. He also sought expedited work to achieve the targets.

OPERATION: The Lahore district administration has intensified its operations against illegal constructions and building bylaws’ violators.

In this regard, the teams completed a targeted operation in areas of Aziz Bhatti Town, including Khwaja Ahmad Hassan Road, Zaitoon Colony, Hassanabad, Rashidpura, and Mominpura.

A strict legal action was taken against a total of 10 illegal constructions, in which six buildings were completely demolished while four others were sealed due to the absence of approved maps and violation of rules. POWER THEFT: In a major operation conducted by a Lesco team in Phoolnagar, power supply to a hospital and residential premises was suspended on account of power theft.

According to a spokesperson, the team conducted operation in Faisal Colony and detected power theft of worth Rs950,000 at a private hospital and an adjacent house.

Similarly another team detected power theft by two consumers in Gulshan Park.

Published in Dawn, April 22nd, 2026