PR’s search for revenue leading to accidents

Unprecedented launch of more passengers and goods coaches results in safety compromise

LAHORE: The tragic train accident near Rahim Yar Khan, which killed 74 people, is the 78th during the tenure of current Railways minister Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed. Train journeys are often seen as the cheapest and safest form of travel, but the numbers during the current government’s spell tell a different story.

Authorities failed to provide accurate figures, but the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Railways was informed that during the incumbent minister’s tenure, as many as 78 rail accidents have been recorded.

Since July, there have been several derailments of goods and passenger coaches, primarily due to the dilapidated condition of tracks.

The accident on Thursday morning was horrific in terms of casualties and the manner in which it occurred. Observers were quick to point out that the management always tried to pin the responsibility for such incidents on travellers. This falls in line with eyewitness accounts which dispelled the notion that a cylinder blast was the reason.

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They instead pointed out to a short circuit in a hanging fan in the AC sleeper coach. Alarmingly, the railways minister admitted the corporation’s negligence when it came to checking the passengers for stoves. He said the authorities lacked scanners in remote stations. To make matters worse, most of the scanners placed in the seven divisions of the railways are not in working order.

“It is clearly written in the Railways Act that no inflammable material can be carried on passenger and goods trains. It is a crime”, a former official of PR told The Express Tribune. “It is the railways police’s job to control such issues, but unfortunately no one cares in the railways when it comes to securing people’s lives,” he added.

As per media reports, a huge chunk of railways police had already been shifted to Islamabad to keep a check on the law and order situation for the upcoming demonstration of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazal. “Even if the police was not diverted to Islamabad, they would still be unable to stop passengers from carrying cooking stoves. This shows how seriously the railways police and other technical staff are performing their duties,” said a serving railways officer.

“What happened in previous accidents? No one has been able to determine the causes of major rail accidents happened in the past. Again, people will talk about this accident for a few more days and another incident will divert the nation’s attention,” he added.

Pakistan Railways is once again passing through one of its worst periods. Rasheed managed to raise the revenue of the cash-strapped corporation to Rs50 billion through the introduction of more passengers and a few goods trains. However, analysts said little attention was paid to maintenance, fixing the dilapidated infrastructure and passenger safety. “Transportation Engineering is a proper subject and this organisation should be run by highly technical people. Unfortunately, the bureaucracy is running its affairs and its members do not have the necessary technical skills,” the official said. He added that the strategic asset was becoming a joke and a dumping site for politically-motivated officers and staff.

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He pointed out that last year, the railway authorities set up a stall at one of the country’s premier engineering institutes. However, not a single student showed his or her interest in terms of job seeking. “They were more attracted towards other companies or sectors which enjoy a better reputation. Many engineers left their jobs in the railways within a short span of time owing to an acute shortage of policymaking on technical grounds.”

The official said that the unprecedented number of train launches, allied with few technical staffers and dilapidated tracks, are the prime reasons behind the unsafe rail journeys.  “The staff often does not get enough time to even clean the coaches when it completes its journey. There is no proper maintenance of coaches because of a shortage of funds, thus increasing accident ratios,” the official said.

He said the entire railways management is looking towards the Main Line-One project approval, but if that does not materialise in the near future, people will see more and more such incidents. “Right now, Pakistan railways’ condition is more like that of a cancer patient. It needs proper treatment, which will result in bleeding, but Pakistan does not have another choice”, the official said.

“The politically motivated decisions have again put the railways in trouble. We managed to increase our revenues, but also the number of train accidents and casualties.”

Published in The Express Tribune, November 1^st, 2019.