Daily Times

KARACHI: Pakistan Railways (PR), in an attempt to fool train commuters, announced that it had started a business train between Karachi and Mirpurkhas and changed timings of the train running between Mirpurkhas to Hyderabad for the convenience of passengers.

The passengers on routine journeys on these railway tracks ended up being the main losers and faced hardships.

The members of PR workers union said such acts would not bring any improvement to the conditions of trains operations at present, which were extremely poor. Besides, PR authorities were not interested in bringing meaningful changes or suspending corrupt PR officials.

The Chairman of the Railway Workers Union Manzoor Razi alleged Railways Karachi Divisional Superintendent Nisar Ahmed Memon was the main cause for the suspension of train operations. PR higher authorities held Memon responsible for the suspension of Mehran Express and Shah Abdul Latif Express train services from Karachi to Mirpukhas via Hyderabad. The explanation was that funds were not available, and so these train services could not be restarted.

Due to poor PR management and supervision, Saman Sarkar Express train service was also forced to close on account of not setting proper timings and schedule for passengers. PR misused millions of rupees in the name of reconstruction of Hyderabad, Tandojam, Tando Allahyar and Mirpurkhas platforms. It created unrest and resentment among passengers, who had to brave poor platform conditions.

It is high time the federal government and railway ministry took notice of inefficiency at PR and replace corrupt officials with honest, responsible ones.