NAWABSHAH, Feb 11: The Pakistan Railways has failed to rectify a fault which occurred more than 40 days ago in its Data Transmission Unit (modem) installed at its reservation office at Nawabshah.

The system, installed by the PTCL, became inoperative after an electric wire fell on the telephone lines on the roof of the reservation office on December 31 leaving the railways to sustain losses and the passengers to suffer.

The railways authorities had cancelled all the routine and advance reservation after the incident and the matter was reported to the high-ups.

An official of the IT department of the Pakistan Railways told Dawn that the Data Transmission Unit was faulty and the headquarters had been informed.

He said that the estimated price for the unit ranged between Rs75,000 to Rs80,000 which would be purchased and installed but the procedures would take time.

He further said that so far it was not confirmed whether only the modem was faulty or there were some other faults also in the system. He said that no back-up was available for the system.

Another official said that the computerised system was being installed at Shikarpur and Jacobabad railway stations which would take time, so it was possible for the authorities to use the data transmission unit of one of the stations for Nawabshah.

When contacted the reservation supervisor, Abdul Wahid Burki said that charts of station quota were obtained from Sukkur and routine booking was being made but as the system was still faulty, the intending passengers could not be entertained from other quotas or return booking.