At Kalanchwala Railway Station on the Sammsatta-Dera Nawab Sahib stretch, about 25 kilometres away, on Monday, a goods train’s locomotive and six waggons derailed, injuring the train’s guard.
Railway officials claim that early on Monday, a urea-laden cargo train travelling from Karachi to Lahore was signalled on the loop route of the Kalanchwala Railway Station.
They said that either the point man erred or the driver failed to apply the brakes, causing the train to overshoot and crash into the station’s dead end, derailing its engine and six waggons in the process.
The driver and other employees were unharmed, according to the officials, but the train’s guard, who was in his cabin at the time of the accident, suffered injuries.
The wrecked waggons ended up on the main Lahore-Karachi track, which worried the railway officials because it might hamper traffic on the main line. However, a relief train that was dispatched from Sammsatta lifted the wrecked waggons and cleared the main Lahore-Karachi railway route, allowing the train traffic to continue as usual.
An investigation into the incident would be started, according to an anonymous railway official.