Derailed

At least three train accidents have occurred in the last two months. Recently, on July 11 a passenger train crashed into a stationary freight train in the Sadiqabad area of Punjab, in the district of Rahim Yar Khan, when going from Quetta to Lahore. The accident killed twenty-one people, and more than ninety were wounded. Reports stated that the driver of the Akbar Express train was driving too fast. According to the PM however, these accidents are happening due to the poor maintenance of railroad infrastructure.

After the crash, the minister of railways has announced a fund of Rs1.5 million to be given to the families of the deceased and Rs0.5 million for the injured. More money should be given to the wounded for their treatment. The collision of a Jinnah Express passenger train with a stationary freight train in the Latifabad area of Hyderabad last month killed six passengers, an assistant driver and the driver himself. The concerned authorities are requested to investigate the reasons for these train collisions and the involved drivers should be arrested and their families fined.

Waqas Bashir, Karachi