‘Mismanaged’: Collision between passenger, freight train kills driver

Two other railway workers were also injured in the accident on Tuesday.

KARACHI: A collision between a passenger and a freight train on Tuesday left an assistant driver dead and two other railway staffers injured.

The accident occurred at Ran Pethani railway station, around 80 kilometres from Karachi, at 4:25pm when the Lahore-bound passenger train Pak-Business Express hit a freight train from the back. The assistant driver of the passenger train, Muhammad Zakir, died while its driver and the guard of the goods train sustained injuries.

According Pakistan Railways Karachi's divisional commercial officer Nasir Nazir, the passenger train hit the cargo train from the back. The collision derailed the engine and the luggage van of the passenger train. Six vans of the cargo train also went off track.

"Luckily all the passengers on-board are safe," said Nazir. "We have sent a relief train to the spot which will collect all information regarding the incident and clear the track for operations," he added. The railways department also established an information desk at the Cantonment Station for the public to get information about the passengers who were aboard the Pak-Business Express.

All the trains coming and departing from Karachi were stopped at different stations as both the up and down tracks of the railway line were damaged by the accident. Scores of passengers were waiting for the repairs of the railway track as Taiz Gam Express, Zakaryia Express were stopped at the Karachi Cantonment Station while the Karakoram Express, which had already departed from the station, was stopped on its way after the accident occurred.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 15^th, 2014.