Tezgam tragedy

The fire that ravaged three bogies of a train at Liaquatpur near Rahim Yar Khan, and killed nearly 75 passengers, should not be interpreted as a mere unavoidable tragedy. It is more than that. The incident is the latest in a series of train accidents which killed people travelling across the country. There have been at least two major mishaps before this in the past year alone and many other minor ones. The remarks by Minister for Railways Sheikh Rasheed Ahmad that passengers were responsible for the fire essentially counts as a clumsy attempt to remove any burden of guilt from the Railways. However, this is unacceptable. The point is that while a group of passengers may indeed have taken a cylinder onto the train and attempted to cook on it, it is the duty of Railways authorities to prevent dangerous items from being carried on to trains carrying hundreds of people. Clearly, in this case this check was neglected – resulting in death that could easily have been avoided.

The claims by the minister that the railways system has improved dramatically is not backed by the facts of this latest mishap or those of earlier ones. The reality is that Pak Railways officials and the minister must in the first place accept responsibility. In most countries of the world, we would have seen resignations if a train had become engulfed in flames as happened in this case. There should be no excuses and no attempts to divert blame. What we need to accept is that a total revamp of our railways system is urgently required. Currently, there are problems with the engines and bogies themselves, with the tracks, with an aging and poorly maintained system and with staff who do not seem able to carry out laid-down procedures. All this must change if there is to be any guarantee that travel on a train is safe and that passengers will arrive safely at their destination.

Pakistan Railways has an enormous amount of potential in our country. The network of tracks laid out is vast and reaches many corners of the nation. What is necessary, however, is that we see a real attempt to overall the system. After a devastating tragedy like the one near Rahim Yar Khan we should be seeing heads rolling and top officials stepping down. This could begin with the minister himself. Only once this responsibility is accepted can any genuine attempt begin to put things on a new footing and rebuild a system that has gradually collapsed leading to one accident after the other.