LAHORE: The bad condition of the railway tracks, rolling stock, yards, signaling system and other infrastructure is not up to the mark and it may lead to some major accidents in the future.
A senior official told this to Federal Minister for Railways Hanif Abbasi during a meeting of the heads of all major departments concerned and PR Chief Executive Officer Hafeezullah.
The federal government inspector of railways (FGIR) also revealed that officials were not performing their jobs, especially in the Pakistan Railways (PR) operations (maintenance and other departments concerned) as per their job descriptions, hence putting safety of passengers, crew and railway infrastructure at risk. He added that the old infrastructure was posing serious threats to a safe train operation.
“And if the same situation persists in the future, the railway authorities must be ready for any possible disaster,” an official, privy to the meeting, quoted the FGIR Amir Nisar Chaudhry as having said while ringing alarm bells during the meeting.
Sharing details of the briefing, the official revealed that the FGIR told the minister that there was no issue related to shortage of manpower and the core issue was the field formations, responsible for proper maintenance of the track, rolling stock etc on a daily basis, were not performing well.
Though there are some issues related to financial resources, the core issue is the disinterest on the part of officers (divisional superintendents, engineers etc) who seem unable to get the work done as per job description, the official said.
The issues related to railways commercial, passenger facilitation, food, encroachments and other services were also brought into the knowledge of the minister. During the meeting, the officers did not contradict the briefing.
At the end, the FGIR also presented some suggestions/proposals to overcome the challenges and resolve issues.
The official said the same day when this meeting was held, the Karachi-bound Yousafwala Coal Train derailed near Khairpur (Sindh). Since July, nearly 20 train accidents and derailments have been reported.
Meanwhile, Hanif Abbasi directed all divisional superintendents (DSs) to implement recommendations regarding railway tracks by Oct 20. According to a spokesperson for the PR, the directives were issued in a meeting presided over by the minister where the FGIR gave a briefing on railway tracks and presented recommendations for improvement.
The meeting decided that the upgrade of Rohri Junction would be completed by Dec 25, while all scrap lying within the railway system would be disposed of by Dec 31. It took strict notice of overloading at railway weighbridges and directed the authorities to take action on the complaints in this regard.
To ensure timely completion of ongoing projects in the divisions, it was decided that the headquarters office would be required to respond to requests from the divisions within 72 hours. Mr Abbasi said he would stand by railway staff during operations against encroachments and directed them not to succumb to any pressure.
He said the cooperation of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and other law-enforcement agencies was being sought to ensure the success of anti-encroachment operations.
Published in Dawn, September 28th, 2026
