Railway passengers have complained that emergency chain-pull levers in new coaches purchased by the Pakistan Railways are not been installed at prominent places.

In the past, four chain-pull levers in red colour were used to be installed at prominent places in a passenger coach, but in the new ones, a steel-colour lever was fixed at their end-walls, which a passenger could hardly find in case of emergency,

Daily Passengers Association (DPA) Chairman Hafiz Abdul Qayyum told APP on Sunday.

He demanded that the levers should be installed at four prominent places so that passengers could use them in emergency situations. An emergency exit door should also be affixed in the middle of every passenger coach like that of the Indian railway, he added.

He said for years, a printed warning about smoking and carrying any inflammable material and devices like stoves and gas cylinders was used to be displayed in the coaches in the past.

"These warnings should not only be displayed in the coaches but also at the railway stations at prominent places," he added.

A passenger Nasir Bhatti said the chain-pull lever was installed in the coaches at such points, which were not visible, and in case of emergency, the travellers could feel difficulty in locating them.

When the railway maintenance staff contacted, they confirmed that changes had been made in the new passenger coaches.

Copyright Associated Press of Pakistan, 2019