Karachi Cantt station turns to crowded field after announcement of temporary halt

Karachi Cantonment Railways Station on Tuesday turned to supper crowded field as the panicked commuters thronged to station soon after Railways announced to temporarily halt all train operations with effect from Tuesday midnight till March, 31.
Thousands of commuters managed to reach at the station despite the city was put under lockdown by Sindh government in the backdrop of fast spreading COVIC-19. An unruly movement, hustle and bustle was witnessed amongst passengers as they were trying to get on the trains while the railways police was seen incapable to maintain order.
Official sources said as many as 20,000 commuters left for their destinations in some 19 trains operated from the city to parts of the country on Tuesday alone. Thousands are still waiting here with no means of transport available for them in the face of lockdown across the province.
Health expert feared this chaotic and panic atmosphere and large-scale social contact at stations, grocery and retails shops, medical stores etc could cause further spread of the deadly Coronavirus among people, which has already engulfed thousands of lives and affected hundreds of thousands of others across the globe.
Sources said the entire train system was derailed after the PPP led provincial government 'abruptly' imposed ban on intercity public transport. They were of the view that this super crowded like situation at cantt station is obvious as millions of people from interior Sindh and Hyderabad, mostly working on daily wages were stuck in Karachi and they are desperate going back to their hometowns.
The train occupancy has already hit the record to 130 percent even in lockdown days, "The official passenger capacity in each train should not be more than 800 passengers in normal days; however, currently we have to accommodate some 300 to 400 additional passengers in each train to avoid this heavy rush," they said adding the decades-old culture of open ticketing still continues in railways, which is one of the reasons of over occupancy.
Today, when the announcement regarding suspension of train operation was made, the passengers thronged to the station, making it difficult for the railways to maintain the rules and follow the SOPs of lockdown. A number of passengers including women and children had already reached at the station some 12 hours before the departure time of train. They were panicked as the city was under lockdown for the last couple of days, they said.
Official sources said the railways took this drastic decision, owing to strong pressure from the political parties including the Sindh Government. Railways will lose some 2.4 lac passengers due to the week-long suspension of the operations. This will also cause heavy revenue loss to the already ailing public transport entity. They feared if he trains suspension continues for longer period of time, railways will not be able to even meet the operational expenditures, repair of engines, disbursement of employee salaries and pensions etc. However, the freight train service is operational.