Railways suffered 338 accidents in four years

As many as 149 accidents were major and 189 minor

ISLAMABAD: Over the past four years, Pakistan Railways has suffered 338 minor and major accidents, in which 118 people have lost their lives.

According to a written answer submitted in the National Assembly in response to questions raised by a lawmaker, as many as 149 accidents were major and 189 were minor.

Data suggested that railways accidents surged between January 2013 and December last year.

Under the category of ‘collision of trains, six accidents occurred in four years. Just a single such accident occurred in 2013 and 2014 each while in 2016, four such accidents occurred.

Luckily, no such accidents happened in 2015.



Thirteen ‘derailment’ incidents occurred in 2013, 14 in 2014, 38 in 2015 and 22 in 2016. The tally of ‘derailments’ was 87 in four years.

A total of 58 accidents took place in four years under the category of ‘collisions at manned level crossings’ out of which 14 occurred in 2013, 13 in 2014, 18 in 2015 and 13 in 2016.

Moreover, 187 accidents took place in four years under the category of ‘collision at unmanned crossing’ out of which 47 occurred in 2013, 42 in 2014, 48 in 2015 and 50 in 2016.

The reply also contained province-wise data of deaths as the result of such accidents over the past four years.



As many as 52 persons from Punjab lost their lives, 43 were from Sindh and 23 from Balochistan.

Major accidents occurred despite strict government measures to control such occurrences. These steps included conducting regular refresher courses at Pakistan Railways Academy in Lahore.

Under these courses, special attention is given to training of locomotive crews, guards, station masters and other staff related with train operations.



Moreover, inspections of all manned or unmanned level crossing was being carried out by officials concerned in accordance with relevant rules and regulations.

Instructions had also been issued to all operating divisions for introducing LED-based lights in tail wagons. All kerosene oil-based signals were also being converted to LEDs on main lines, the reply to the House elaborated.