KARACHI, July 17 Leaders of the railway trade union have strongly condemned the decision of the Pakistan Railways (PR) to suspend the operation of six trains, three of them connecting the metropolis with other parts of the country.

The three trains are Shalimar Express that goes to Lahore, Tezro that goes to Peshawar and Mehran Express that goes to Mirpurkhas.

The trains which were suspended immediately are Sialkot Express, Sakhi Pal Express and Mehran Express. Services of Chiltan Express and Tezro will be halted on July 20 and Shalimar Express on July 29.

The PR claimed that it was facing a deficit of Rs1.5 billion per annum due to these trains.

Railway union leaders — Manzoor Razi and Rao Naseem — claimed that the trains whose operations were to be suspended had never caused financial losses to the PR.

“The railway department has never suffered from financial losses as it has been shown by the authorities concerned,” they said.

Criticising the policies of the PR authorities, they said that the authorities had been trying to show the railway a bankrupt department.

“Such decisions will always enormously affect the people across the country, who usually travel by train,” they added.

They rejected the PR claim that these trains were causing a financial loss to the railways and said that all losses were due to corruption only.

They called upon the authorities to order a high-level judicial probe into the financial irregularities in the PR.

After the suspension of Shah Latif Express, the Mehran Express was the only train left that connected Karachi with Mirpurkhas. However, after its closure the rail link with the important city of the province has been virtually severed.

Earlier, 27 trains used to leave Karachi, but now their number has come down to a mere 17.

Besides the three trains, seven trains that had been closed earlier are Sir Syed Express (Karachi to Rawalpindi); Burraq Express (Rawalpindi); Nishtar Express (Peshawar); Jinnah Express (Lahore); Shah Latif Express (Mirpurkhas); Balochistan Express (Quetta); and K-2 passenger.