PR Completes 44 Inquiries Of Train Accidents

ISLAMABAD, Dec 8 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 8th Dec, 2019 ) :Pakistan Railways has finalized inquiries of 44 passenger train accidents while 22 accidents related to goods trains are being dealt by the respective divisions in accordance with rules of the department.

Eight inquiry reports were under process and would be finalized in due course of time and submitted to the quarters concerned, an official in the Ministry of Railways told APP.

He said that as many as 74 train accidents occurred in the system of Pakistan Railways since August 2018 to till date.

The official said that accidents at unmanned level crossings were due to the negligence of road users.

In these cases, the road vehicle drivers were responsible for the accidents.

He said that disciplinary action had been taken against the staff held responsible in the inquiry.

The official said Pakistan Railways had taken several steps to prevent accidents including up-gradation of 550 vulnerable unmanned level crossings throughout the country in collaboration with the respective provincial governments.

He said so far the Punjab government had expeditiously undertaken the up-gradation of vulnerable railway crossings and about 75 number of unmanned level crossings had been upgraded to man level crossings, adding that efforts were underway to upgrade 150 unmanned level crossings.

The official said that government of Sindh had also agreed to provide funds for the up-gradation of 44 vulnerable unmanned level crossings.

On the same lines, he said the government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was also providing funds for the up-gradation of six vulnerable unmanned level crossings.

He said the Directorate of Public Relations had circulated different video messages over social media for the awareness and information of general public regarding the railway crossings in a safe way.

The official said that conversion of old age Kerosene oil based signals with LED's on main line, would lead to better visibility.

Training and refresher courses were conducted regularly at the Pakistan Railway academy, Walton.

He said that special attention was being given to the training of the locomotive crews, guards, station masters and other staff concerned with train operations.

Regular inspections in accordance with prescribed standards and quota were conducted by the officers and officials of Pakistan Railways to maintain safety standards. This process was being constantly monitored at appropriate levels, he added.

The official said special bulletins were issued regularly for guidance of staff and inquiries into accidents were held, responsibility fixed and remedial measures on the basis of their findings were promptly taken.

He said the inspections of all manned or unmanned level crossings were being carried out by all concerned in accordance with laid down schedule regularly To a question, he said the Main Line-I (ML-I) project of Pakistan Railways, under which Peshawar-Karachi track to be up-graded, would create around 100,000 jobs for technical and non-technical workforce.

The project, being executed as part of the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), would bring economic revolution not only in Pakistan Railways but also in the country.

Giving details of the project, the official said the development of ML-I would include fencing on both sides, repair of bridges and laying of new track from Peshawar to Karachi.

The project would remove all the unmanned level crossing on the railway network of ML-I, which would also control trains' accidents, the official added.

After completion of ML-I, he said it would increase speed from 65-105 km/h to 120-160km/h, increase freight volumes from 6 to 35 tons per year by 2025 and increase the railway's share in freight transport from less than 4% to 20%.