Early morning of November 3, a passenger train, Zakariya Express, coming from Multan collided with a stationary train, Fareed Express, in Landhi area of Karachi, resulting in the death of 22 people and injuries to hundreds of passengers.
Khawaja Saad Rafique, Minister for Railways, categorically ruled out the possibility of any fault with the signal system in place and termed human error as the main cause of this tragedy.
A preliminary inquiry also found the driver did not reduce the speed of the train after seeing the red signal.
In around 530 train accidents in his tenure, Rafique has held the lower grade employees guilty in most cases. Of the total number of accidents, around 14 have been major, taking 102 lives and a large number of injuries.
In cases of train collisions, the drivers are invariably blamed for the accident, and in cases of derailment, like the one in Gujranwala in July last year where several bogies fell into the river, the driver was blamed for over-speeding while crossing the bridge.
Pakistan Railways (PR) inquiry committee, formed to determine the reasons for accidents in the last three years, has been informed that 50 per cent of the accidents were caused due to unmanned level crossings.
Despite the PR’s appeal to the provincial governments to close down all unmanned crossings, only the Punjab government has spent Rs610 million to close 75 spots. In total, PR needs Rs5 billion to close all unmanned crossings from Peshawar to Karachi.
Ashraf Lanjaar, Director General (DG) Operations, Pakistan Railways says that the preliminary inquiry report on the November 3 accident has found that the driver was responsible for the accident because he did not stop at the red signal. The focal person in Pakistan Railways, he expressed his inability under the Freedom of Information Ordinance (FoI) to comment on the report till the time it is made public.
To prevent accidents in future, Lanjaar says automatic signal systems are being introduced at places where they are missing, the signal systems destroyed during riots are being repaired, level crossings are being closed or secured, tracks secured with the help of modern machinery and so on.
Some pressing issues identified by PR workers and officials are the obsolete signal system affected by deposits from carbon; exposure to humidity and wear and tear of the equipment; signal system in Sindh damaged by protestors after the murder of Benazir Bhutto; unprotected tracks; overworked drivers with an eight-hour shift as per rule (they agree to continue as this offers them more money in the form of overtime); and irregular medical and psychological examinations of locomotive drivers.
Manzoor Ahmed Razi, Central Chairman of Pakistan Railway Workers’ Union, the best way for the government to hide its inefficiency is to blame the drivers. He says someone said the driver was asleep when a particular accident took place. "This is not possible as the engine gives a dead man’s signal in such a case and comes to a halt because the pressure on a pedal or button under the foot of the sleeping driver decreases."
Razi says that after the November 3 accident, the driver and his assistant were immediately blamed and announced to be absconding, but, in fact, they were hospitalised with broken bones.
He tells TNS that when he requested the PR minister, while visiting the Jinnah Hospital to meet people injured in the accident, he refused to see the injured employees. "His response was blunt. ’I cannot see the murderers of 22 innocent passengers’, and left," Razi adds.
Razi points out that the drivers are mostly blamed in cases where trains collide. "There are scores of incidents like derailments and hitting of vehicles and individuals at level crossings that can be avoided by taking preventive measures. If, in case of a collision, a driver says he saw green signal and did not apply brakes this possibility shall also be considered. But what happens is that the driver is declared culprit right away and the inquiry is closed."
He adds that there can be problem with brakes and tracks that may be misaligned due to theft of nuts and bolts but the inquiry officers hide these facts. "Passenger trains are hardly maintained and given rest because there is shortage of operational locomotives. Instead of overburdening the functional trains, more locomotives shall be added to the fleet."