MULTAN City News

Faults in PR signaling system caused accident

From Nadeem Shah

MULTAN: Faults in the Pakistan Railways signaling system - Computerised Block Instrument (CBI) - caused a collision between the Awam Express and a freight train, The News has learnt.

The technical experts at the Multan DS Office on the condition of anonymity said that the faulty CBI system caused the collision between the two trains. The technical experts explained the nature of the CBI fault and said that its automatic flashing system created problems frequently by switching red to green and green to red. According to the PR standard operational procedures for trains, the passenger and freight trains were not allowed to move without tail lamps, they added. The Pakistan Railways Multan Divisional Superintendent Office technical experts and senior drivers said that the responsibility was fixed at the Awam Express driver to save the skin of the bosses. The freight train was without lamp while the CBI showed green signal, which meant the track was clear and the Awam Express driver moved forward and finally collided with the freight train, they added.

Pakistan Railways Drivers Association divisional president Ghulam Shabbir said that the Awam Express was moving normally on the track when it received a red signal and the driver stopped the train. Awam Express guard in-charge Nisar Ahmad inquired from freight train assistant driver Azhar Qaisar on receiving red signal through SMS. The assistant driver responded him in a message that the freight train was staying due to level crossing down position. The text messaging was in progress between the Awam Express guard and the freight train assistant driver on red signal just before two minutes of the collision, he added. Ghulam Shabbir said that the Awam Express driver moved the train on receiving a green signal.

Pakistan Railways Multan Divisional Superintendent Zafar Kalwar said that apparently Awam Express driver Abdur Rauf Shamoon was responsible for the accident. He disowned registration of a case by Shujabad police, saying that a police party came to the scene and got a copy of memo from Awam Express guard Nisar Ahmad and registered an FIR. He said that the Divisional Superintendent Office would get a fresh case registered on completion of an inquiry.

The DS Office technical branch officials said that the police registered a case without assessing its jurisdiction as 30 feet area from left and right sides of the track fell under the jurisdiction of Railways police. They said that the area where the accident occurred did not fall under Shujabad police limits.

When contacted, Shujabad SDPO Khawar Zaman Lodhi said that police had registered a case on the complaint of PR guard Nisar Ahmad. He said that if the railways administration considered that Shujabad police wrongly registered a case, they could file an application for its quashment.