LAHORE(National Times)- In view of repeated derailments and accidents, including a recent incident near Multan that killed and injured several passengers, Pakistan Railways on Saturday declared an emergency until Dec 31, cancelling all public holidays for officers and directing them to address operational deficiencies to ensure safe passenger journeys and freight transportation across the country.

“Till December 31, neither I nor the officers concerned will take rest. Until all deficiencies in passenger coaches, goods wagons, locomotives, signalling and other infrastructure are removed, no one in the operations department, including me, will be allowed to avail themselves of Saturday and Sunday as holidays. Anyone found flouting these orders will be taken to task,” Minister for Railways Hanif Abbasi warned while sharing details of the emergency, which came into effect on Oct 24 (Saturday).

Under the emergency, aimed at ensuring safe train operations, all kinds of leave, except medical leave, as well as public holidays, including Saturdays, Sundays and other holidays, have been cancelled for officers and officials. They have also been directed to monitor train operations in the field.

Railway officers travelling to other cities on official business are required to use trains. Chief engineers of the civil and mechanical departments have been directed to submit daily reports to the ministry on matters relating to their respective departments. The head of the safety department is required to submit a daily report.

“It is hereby directed that all officers of Pakistan Railways shall travel by rail for all official tours, and no air travel shall be allowed or reimbursed for official tours. Furthermore, the use of official vehicles for official tours is also not allowed,” read a letter titled “Mandatory Use of Rail Transport for Official Tours”, issued to all senior and junior officers on Saturday.

The minister said all dummy (faulty or brakeless) passenger coaches and goods wagons would be removed from service by Dec 31, with all such rolling stock made fully fit for operations.

“Parts for coaches, wagons and locomotives, including 36,000 brake cylinders, have started arriving. Officers have been asked to start work on an emergency basis,” the minister said, adding that he was clearing a maintenance backlog accumulated over the past 10 years. “From January next year, all faulty coaches, wagons and locomotives will be fit for operations.”

The minister said he would himself travel by train (railcar) from Rawalpindi to Lahore until Dec 31. Similarly, all officers would use trains to perform their official duties. “Air travel will only be allowed for me and the officers in cases of extreme emergency,” Mr Abbasi said, warning officers to remove all deficiencies in trains by Dec 31, failing which he would have no option but to take them to task.

He said the health analysis of 1,546 coaches and wagons had been completed, while the inspection of the remaining around 3,000 would be completed by Nov 10.

“I have directed the officers concerned that parts which can be manufactured locally should be produced at our workshops. Similarly, I have also directed the officers to meet the demand for concrete and wooden sleepers by Nov 30,” he explained.

Several train accidents and derailments have been reported in recent months, including seven in July alone.

The major issues identified as causes of derailments and accidents included deteriorating railway tracks, the use of dummy coaches and wagons, the manual point system (kanta system), human error, inadequate maintenance, and a lack of sufficient resources.