Out of fuel, railways may suspend services today

Railways says it will refund passengers if trains do not depart.

QUETTA:

Pakistan Railways will likely have to suspend its train services in Balochistan today as it has run out of diesel fuel, according to PR’s general manager in Balochistan.

Punjab and Sindh-bound trains left Quetta on Wednesday but PR stopped taking bookings for the Bolan Mail on instructions from headquarters. “The diesel stock is finished. Quetta is not facing this problem alone, it is like this everywhere. If diesel is not dispatched to us tonight, we will have to suspend services tomorrow (Thursday),” General Manager Maqbool Magsi said.

PR operates three trains in Balochistan, the Punjab-bound Jaffar Express and Quetta Express and the Sindh-bound Bolan Mail. “Two trains are scheduled to leave tomorrow. All the tickets for the Jaffar Express have been sold while we have stopped taking bookings for the Bolan Mail,” a railway official said, adding that passengers would be refunded if the trains did not depart today.

Pakistan Railway had already stopped three trains in Balochistan owing to financial constraints.

“Since the highways are no longer secure, people prefer to travel by trains. This will badly affect people, particularly from the middle class,” said Mohammad Irfan, a customer who had tried to book a train ticket for Thursday.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 17^th, 2011.