The Eidul Azha holidays did not end well for the six persons who died and the 150 others who were injured when the Awam Express travelling from Peshawar to Karachi collided with a freight train near Multan in yet another of the rail mishaps which take place periodically on our tracks. The last one in Gujranwala in July 2015 killed 19 people. The terrifying crash in Multan is especially tragic as it could so easily have been avoided. It took place because the driver of the upmarket Awam Express did not stop despite the signal to do so and crashed head-on into the halted freight train which had stopped after it ran over a man on the track. The illegal crossing of tracks by pedestrians is a frequent hazard for train drivers. This incident in fact led up to the series of unfortunate events which followed. But this in no way removes blame from the driver of the Awam Express who, along with the conductor, escaped from the spot. Six bogies of the express overturned as a result of the accident. A search for him is on and the railways authorities say the matter including the violation of rules will be investigated and action taken. This of course makes little difference to the dead and the injured.
Our rail system requires a serious overhaul. While improvements have been seen from time to time, questions come up persistently about the training of drivers and other staff, the number of hours they work and also the reliability of the aging tracks themselves. All these factors, as well as militant activity to which the long, open miles of tracks are so vulnerable, have played a part in past accidents. A review needs to be made of what happened at Multan. There is capacity for the system to be expanded and to run far more efficiently. But this can be put into play only if we are first able to look at the basic element of safety and ensure our train systems are safe and the staff running them aware of the responsibility involved in carrying hundreds of people from one place to the next. It appears this was not the case in the Multan accident. It is also not the case when buses carrying passengers take to the highways or wagons race along city roads. At times like Eid when many more people than usual are on the move, the risks run higher and it becomes still more imperative to ensure safety ahead of all else.