ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Railways was likely to resume its service towards Karachi during the first week of October that had badly affected due to unexpected monsoon rains and flash floods across the country.
“The restoration work of railway tracks is in full swing with the help of Frontier Works Organization (FWO), the district administration of Sindh and Pakistan Railways,” sources in the Ministry of Railways told APP.
They said on the direction of Minister for Railways Khawaja Saad Rafique, the department had utilized all available resources to restore the rail service in flood-affected areas across the country.
The sources said that a trial run of an inspection train had also been started to check the maintenance of the track, adding the Railways authorities had directed the carriage department staff to complete technical work shortly.
In the first phase, they said the decision to run the freight train operation from October 1 had been made subject to the receding of water and the clearance of signals and bridges.
Pakistan Railways also directed the authorities concerned to complete the ongoing survey of the affected installations on a war footing and expedite the rehabilitation process, said the sources. They added that the technical and non-technical staff of the department was working in three shifts to restore the tracks once the floodwater recedes.
“The train service between Quetta and Karachi Divisions is suspended after railway bridges collapsed and rail tracks became submerged in water due to floods in the region,” they added.
They said that in the remaining divisions around seven to eight bridges were damaged due to which the train operations were suspended in the flood-hit areas, adding that “train service could not be restored until the bridges and tracks were cleared of the floodwater”.
The department had deployed technical bridge staff at various sections for the repair of the damaged bridges and the train operation would only be restored after the completion of the reconstruction work on the bridges, they assured.