THE terrible train accident near Nawabshah that killed over 30 passengers of the Hazara Express and left dozens injured on Sunday was a tragedy waiting to happen. There is always an air of resignation when a train accident occurs in Pakistan.
Each incident is followed by routine announcements of an inquiry and, in the case of major accidents, cash compensation for families who have lost their loved ones or passengers who sustained injuries. The death toll is reduced to mere numbers and the inquiry consigned to the railway junkyard.
Train derailments happen frequently on Pakistan’s poorly maintained railway lines, especially on the stretch between Khanpur and Karachi. More than 250 people have died and several hundred wounded in major train derailments, collisions and fires in the last 10 years. It is not only the train tracks that are covered in blood; those who have wilfully neglected the railways also have blood on their hands.
One can hardly recall the government making any inquiry public or punishing those responsible for these tragedies. The latest tragedy is yet another grim reminder of the multiple challenges the government faces in even maintaining and repairing the country’s dilapidated railway infrastructure let alone modernising it and expanding rail services.
Shortly after the accident, railway and aviation minister Khawaja Saad Rafique said the possibility of sabotage or a mechanical fault could not be ruled out. The “root cause” of the accident would have to be investigated, he added. Some railway officials blamed the derailment of the Rawalpindi-bound Hazara Express on the breakage of the railway line and hot axle issue, which jammed movement.
Yesterday, the minister termed the lack of resources as the “real cause” of the tragedy. In fact, that is the single-most important reason for the current state of the railway infrastructure between Peshawar and Karachi. For example, the railway department had requested Rs30bn in 2021 for the rehabilitation of the 470km-long track between Khanpur and Kotri where the most fatal accidents have occurred in recent years.
However, both the PTI and PDM governments delayed approval, citing it as “unnecessary” due to the planned $9bn ML-1 project under the CPEC initiative. That shows government does not really care about the life of the rail passengers because the overwhelming majority comes from the lower income groups of the population.
No wonder whenever a railway minister talks about turning railways around, they are concerned about the profitability of its operations rather than the safety of the passengers. The railway department cannot be turned into a profitable entity without investment in its infrastructure to ensure safe travel for its users. The ML-1 project is crucial to modernising the railway system. But the safety of the passengers is paramount, with or without it.
Published in Dawn, August 8th, 2023