KARACHI, Dec 19: Just two days before Eid, the derailment of Karachi Express in early hours of Wednesday not only disturbed the arrival timings of various passenger trains but also forced the Pakistan Railway authorities to cancel the scheduled departure of 12 upcountry trains from different stations of Karachi.

The accident, which left several passengers dead and more than a hundred injured when 12 coaches of the Lahore-bound train derailed near Mehrabpur Railway Station, mainly affected the rail traffic between Karachi and Lahore. Till our going to press, only down track (ie from Lahore to Karachi) was opened for railway traffic while work was going on to remove debris from the other track.

Deputy Divisional Superintendent Maqsood-un-Nabi told Dawn that the schedule of 12 trains namely Pakistan Express, Allama Iqbal Express, Millat Express, Karachi Express, Faisalabad Night Coach, Bahauddin Zakaria Express, Shah Farid Express, Nishtar Express, Khyber Mail, Sindh Express, Hazara Express and Sukkur Express have been affected badly due to the Mehrabpur tragedy.

He claimed that some upcountry trains including Shalimar Express, Super Express, Shah Rukn-i-Alam Express, Awam Express and Bolan Mail left Karachi stations on time. He said the Pakistan Railway managed to run Karakoram Express, Tezgam, Balochistan Express, Khushhal Khan Khattak Express and Eid special train. The last train left Karachi at 8.15pm.

Divisional Commercial Officer Kashif Yusfani stated that the passenger trains timings had been disturbed due to the train accident. In a press statement, he said: “The trains scheduled to depart from Karachi City and Cantonment railway stations will depart late. The first train, Khyber Mail, will depart at the earliest by 2am on Thursday and all subsequent trains will depart later.” All those passengers who were not interested in travelling could avail full refund from the booking offices, he added.

Thousands of commuters and their relatives faced hardships as the few trains that departed from Karachi were running hours behind the schedule. Worst sufferers were perhaps the passengers who had planned to reach their destination before Eid to spend the occasion with their relatives in their hometowns. Though the railway authorities facilitated the refund process, the passengers could not make reservation in already overbooked upcountry buses due to Eid rush.