KARACHI: Strike by railmen yesterday [Feb 1] paralysed Pakistan Western Railway and while most of the trains were cancelled, those on their way were stranded here, there, and all over in the province.
Bookings of all commodities except foodgrains, petroleum and oil and some essential supplies were suspended; and long queues of passengers were seen at all railway stations getting refunded for tickets which could not be availed.
Thousands of passengers stranded at wayside stations had to pass the day and also the night in the stranded trains and were provided food mostly by Civil Defence authorities.
Nisar Osmani, Dawn Lahore Correspondent, writes that the railmen struck work at about 9 a.m. to press their demands. They included cabinmen, pointmen, firemen and cleaners.
The strike was started by the workers of the Mughalpura Workshop on Monday afternoon [Jan 30]. Loco Shop workers joined next. The rest of the class four employees joined in yesterday morning.
Khyber Mail reached Lahore from Peshawar just before 9 a.m. but could not move onward to Karachi, [causing] hundreds of passengers who sat in the train [to be stranded].
Tezgam coming from Karachi stopped at Changa Manga; Tezgam from Rawalpindi was stranded at Lala Musa and an Express train from Sargodha was stopped at Badami Bagh.
Awami Express could not reach Lahore and was stopped at Lahore Cantonment.
Thousands of workers had gathered at Lahore station, raising slogans. They were heard saying that only written assurances would make them return to work.
In Karachi, the only main passenger train that left yesterday was the Lahore bound Karachi Express which steamed out at 8-25 a.m.
All trains due to leave after 11 a.m. were cancelled and the blackboard announcing departure of trains announced that all trains were delayed indefinitely.
Published in Dawn February 2nd, 2017