APROPOS a letter about the train mishap on Sept 15 near Multan which resulted in the death of seven passengers and about 100 injured. This accident reminded me of another disaster about 12 years ago (July 13, 2005) at Ghotki in identical circumstances — a moving train hitting a stationary train.

It was 3.30 am and we had hardly gone to sleep when we heard the sound of a blast and then everything started rolling and banging us against the wall of the bogie. When it stopped, it was dark and suffocating. There were cries of the injured pleading for help. Somehow I managed to break open the glass of the bogie and came out in the open.

How we managed back to Karachi instead of Kaghan, where we had planned our holidays, is a different story. The disappointing thing to note is that similar reasons are being given for the deadly accident — an error by the train driver, failure of the signaling system, etc.

This all proves we are still standing at the same place where we were in 2005 despite claims of change by different governments and their worthy railway ministers.

Such excuses are not only disappointing but unacceptable in this modern era when train travel has been made much safer by modernising signalling and control systems.

The fault actually lies with government priorities on new projects to gain political mileage instead of improving the already existing systems.

Malik ul Quddoos
Karachi

Published in Dawn, September 26th, 2016