The drivers of Pakistan Railways have registered their protest for non-upgradation of Railway engines causing delay in the departure of trains here on Wednesday. "Trains including Shah Rukn-e-Alam, Hazara Express, Awami Express, Super Express and Pakistan Express could not proceed to their upcountry destination since 6 am due to the strike of the drivers," said a spokesman of Pakistan Railways Workers' Union (Karachi Chapter).
Frequency of strikes by drivers is increasing day by day but the management pays no heed to their legitimate demands. "Drivers demand up-gradation of the engines from two-motors to four-motors to boost their power and capacity," the spokesman added. On several occasions of up-country routes, the engines fail to deliver with two-motors and drivers had no option but to stop for an hour or two, he explained.
Arrival of several trains from upcountry to Karachi City station and Karachi Cantt. has also been delayed due to same reasons. Meanwhile, the management of the Karachi City Station did not respond to calls despite several attempts and Control Centre at the Manager's office also declined to divulge any information. Top management of the Railways made several bids to upgrade its locomotives with the help of other countries but failed to do so due bureaucratic hurdles.
Pakistan Railways forms the lifeline of the country by catering to its needs for large-scale movement of freight as well as passenger traffic. The loss-making Railways endeavours to run the trains strictly in accordance to time table. "The progressive freight train support organisation operated by professional management and competent staff endeavours to provide reliable, competitive and economical service of recognised standards to its customers," Pakistan Railways writes in its official website.
The project from Karachi to Lahore will be connected with double line track. Sectional capacity will increase from 18 to 34 trains daily. Journey time from Lahore to Karachi will be reduced by one hour for mail/express trains and seven hours for freight trains, it further adds. The network has 7,791-route km, 559 stations, 90,000 employees and it has annual average claimed revenue of around Rs 20 billion. "The website completely belies the claim of Pakistan Railways as it doesn't match the ground realities," the spokesman of the Union pointed out.