Departmental failure blamed for train crash

Rafique says lack of resources led to Hazara Express derailment

LAHORE:

The Pakistan Railways compiled its joint report of initial investigation into the Hazara Express accident in Sindh, saying that the incompetence of the civil and the mechanical departments was the cause of the train crash.

Though, the report did not rule out the sabotage, but it said that the track was broken, while the fish plates were not installed. Besides, defective wheels and tracks were also a contributing factor in the accident.

The Hazara Express, travelling from Karachi to Havelian in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, met an accident near the rural town of Sarhari, located some 30 kilometres away from Nawabshah in Sunday afternoon.

Officials said that 10 bogies of the 19-carriage train with around 1,100 passengers on board derailed over Dadwah – a fresh water distributary – around 1.5 kilometres away from the Sarhari railway station.

On Monday, the Railways Headquarters in Lahore received the preliminary joint certificate report of the accident, sources said. They added that the cause of the accident was the incompetence of the civil and the mechanical departments.

Read 35 perish, 100 injured as 10 bogies of Hazara Express derail

The report stated that the wheels of the train engine were damaged, while there was no fish plate to connect the tracks. However, sources said, both the civil and mechanical departments refused to take blame for the accident.

Railway officials said that the joint certificate report was not final, adding that the final report of the accident would be issued by the Federal Inspector of Railways after the complete investigation.

Separately, addressing an event in Lahore Railways Minister Khawaja Saad Rafique said that the reason behind the tragedy was a lack of resources. However, he assured that the accident would be fully investigated.

Minister for Railways @KhSaad_Rafique addressing a ceremony in Lahore https://t.co/TDu8Gxey97

— Radio Pakistan (@RadioPakistan) August 7, 2023

“The responsible persons will be held to account but the actual responsibility lies in the lack of resources,” the minister said. “We are not being able to maintain matters,” he added.

On Sunday Rafique had said that no faults had been reported on the stretch of line where the accident happened, but some residents said it had been affected by the monsoon floods that engulfed a third of the country last summer.

Rafique promised a full investigation. "There can be two reasons: first that it was a mechanical fault, or the fault was created -- it might be a sabotage. We will investigate it," he had said on Sunday.

At the event on Monday, the minister mentioned an agreement would be signed with Beijing, through which “the Pakistanis will see the kind of rails that they usually ply abroad within six to seven years”.

Rafique, who is also the aviation minister, said that the Pakistan Internation Airlines (PIA) was in a “pathetic” state despite efforts made by him and the state airline. However, he added that “we have laid the foundation” to improve it.