'Karachi Express derailed due to dilapidated tracks not speeding'

SUKKUR: The Mechanical Branch of Pakistan Railways rejected on Monday the preliminary report saying the Rohri train accident that took place two days ago with Lahore-bound Karachi Express, claiming one life and leaving 30 people injured, was due to over-speeding and asserted it was actually due to broken train tracks, ARY News reported.

The report into the accident of a Lahore-bound Karachi Express train, which derailed near Rohri and left one person dead and 30 injured, was sent to the Railways minister and a copy of it has been availed by ARY News. However, the mechanical branch debunks the report saying speeding was not an issue.

According to the report, the bogies of the Karachi Express derailed near Rohri owing to the dilapidated condition of the track. During an inspection of the 490-kilometer route of the train, it was revealed that the track fish plate at the 1.5 feet track was found to be broken.

It further revealed that the coupling between coaches 12306 and 12412 was also broken.

The earlier report said the trains have been advised to maintain a speed of 65 kilometers per hour owing to an engineering fault at the spot and blamed the driver saying that the train was over speeding and the driver tried to bring it to 65-kilometer mark which led the train being dragged to 2402 feet, signs of which were also found on the track.