The government on Friday ruled out any possibility of sabotage in Ghotki triple train accident and held the driver of Karachi Express and station master of Sarhad Railway Station responsible for one of the country's worst rail mishaps.
Federal Railways Minister Shamim Haider unveiled the findings of the inquiry report conducted by Railways Federal Inspector General Saleem-ur-Rehman Akhoond here at a joint news conference.
Shamim said the driver of Karachi Express misread the red signal at the Sarhad Railway Station, which resulted in the collision of three trains on July 13.
He equally accused the Sarhad station master and said he should have kept faulty Quetta Express on the loop line instead of the main line.
The accident took place in the early hours of July 13 when the Karachi Express rammed into a stationary Quetta Express at the Sarhad Railway Station.
Many carriages of the two trains were derailed as a result of the collision, which then rolled over and hit Tezgam, another express train passing through the station at that time.
Responding to volley of questions, the minister said they have no proof that the accident was the result of any kind of terrorism.
Saleem said the tragic accident took place purely due to human error.
When asked about a few reports that three men were present in the engine at the time of the accident, he said they have not found any corpse of unknown person from the locomotive of the Karachi Express.
"We have thoroughly probed all the aspects, human as well as technical. Only two bodies have been extracted from the engine, who were driver and his assistant," he said.
Moreover, he said they have small indications that the driver of the Karachi Express was alert and he pressed the emergency brakes, but it was too late.
The latest disaster comes as a sequel to at least two major train accidents that have taken place in the upper Sindh area in the past. In 1990, trains collision at Sanghi resulted in the death of 307 people, another accident claimed nearly 100 lives at Ghotki the following year.
The minister said inquiry reports of these two accidents are also being reopened to find out the basic reasons of accidents in the area.
Shamim said the chief engineer was suspended on the charges of negligence in performing his duty. He said the engineer was bound to check the coaches before their departure.
The minister admitted that incompetent operational staff recruited due to political influences was one of the major reasons behind all such mishaps. He made it clear that the competency and technical know-how of all operational staff would be re-examined and incompetent people would be removed.
Regarding obsolete railway system, Shamim said the political governments had completely ignored railways in the past, as they wanted to privatise it.
He said Pakistan Railways has been in operational surplus after 32 years. "First time in the history of Pakistan Railways, we have refused the government's subsidy worth Rs 5.2 billion," he claimed.
He informed the newsmen that the Railways Ministry has chalked out a comprehensive plan to avoid any untoward accidents like Ghotki mishap in future.
The minister said automatic train protection system would be installed very soon to make railway a safe journey.
To ensure effective communication between train crew, station staff and control offices, he said, VHF system would be installed immediately so that driver and guard could frequently talk to each other as well as with the station and control staff.
Furthermore, walkie-talkies would be provided to the staff of all Mail and Express trains as an additional help for communicating with station staff and train staff of nearby trains.
He said a team comprising senior railway officers from all disciplines pertaining to train operations would be constituted, which would carry out surprise inspections of all safety-related installations, including tracks, stations and signalling systems.
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