Suspension of train traffic

Serious structural damage sustained by a newly constructed railway bridge at Runpathani near Dhabeji railway station has resulted in the suspension of train traffic between Karachi and the upcountry towns.
According to a news report, following the damage to the bridge all trains were stopped at Jhampir, Bradabad and Dhabeji, while trains coming from upcountry stations, were diverted to Kotri and Hyderabad. Super Express, the pride of Pakistan Railways, on its way to upcountry was also stopped and sent back to Karachi.
Although torrential rains across the country have caused large-scale damage to vital infrastructure including roads and power supply lines, serious damage to a railway bridge, and that too a newly constructed one, should make the government high-ups to spare some time to ponder over the situation. The immediate cause of structural damage to the bridge at Runpathani, located between Kotri and Jhampir, is said to be flash floods triggered by torrential rains in the hilly parts of the district.
The suspension of train traffic on a key railway artery is indeed a very serious matter, as rail is the sole mass transit network in the country, with a pronounced defence dimension to it. Meanwhile, the collapse of a portion of the bridge over Kalpani nullah in NWFP has left many people dead, with many more missing still unaccounted for. What has gone wrong?
Viewed in a larger perspective, the damage sustained by the newly constructed bridge at Runpathani is a sad comment on the declining standard of infrastructure construction in the country. Comparatively speaking, maintaining high standard of construction in bridge building is more important than in road construction, largely because collapse of a bridge can result in many more casualties.
Secondly, a bridge is much more expensive to build. There was a time when railway tracks and bridges in this part of the subcontinent used to represent amazing engineering skill, ingenuity and professional dedication. That is why many railway bridges and rail tracks, built almost a century ago, still remain serviceable at a time when the volume of both passenger and cargo traffic has gone up manifold due to an increase in population and economic activity.
One cause of the current sad state of affairs is clearly the lax supervisory role the governmental machinery exercises in the production of construction material. In the olden times crushed and ground limestone was the principal material used for all types of infrastructure construction that has stood the test of time.
Despite the rapid strides made in construction technology, and the use of state-of-the-art machinery for all types of construction, the standard of construction in the country has gone dangerously down, thanks largely to an unholy mix of overriding profit motive and corruption at different levels. The precipitous collapse of Margalla Towers in the first few seconds of October 8 earthquake in Islamabad provides a measure of the rot that has seeped through, despite claims to the contrary by those at the helm.
There is a need for the government to take a serious view of the prevailing situation in the infrastructure field, as sound infrastructure is the lifeblood of any economy. The government should hold a judicial inquiry to determine the causes of all such incidents in the country, including the present one, and punish those responsible. It should also lay down stricter rules for supervisory control. This can only be done if the government stamps out the culture of corruption and kickbacks.