Lives that could’ve been saved-Death Toll of Railway Accidents in Pakistan

Before I present the stats of lives claimed by railway accidents during the tenure of Khawaja Saad Rafique. I’d like to express my heartfelt condolences to the families of the victims of the Lodhran accident that happened today in the morning. I will also take this opportunity to express my condolences to all the lives affected by the poor management of Railways in Pakistan. The statistics presented have been collected from various news reporting agencies and articles written by their reporters.

2013:

On 6^th July, 2013 a rickshaw collided with a train at a level crossing near Sheikhupura, Punjab. This accident claimed the lives of 14 people while one person was injured.   

On 26^th July, 2013 a train heading from Rawalpindi to Lahore was derailed near Gujranwala. This lead to the sad demise of 2 people whereas several were injured.

2014:

 On 7^th May 2014 Karakoram express was derailed near Bandhi railway station, which is located at least 55km from Nawabshah, claiming the innocent lives 2 people while 15 others were injured.

11^th November 2014 witnessed a major accident when a passenger coach collided with a truck near Theri Bypass in Khairpur leading to the loss of 58 lives.

2015:

On 3^rd July, 2015 a passenger train derails as a bridge over a canal near Gujranwala collapses from under the train. 19 passengers died while several were injured among the total 300 passengers.

On 20^th July, 2015 Six members of a family die as their car collides with a Karachi bound train at an unnamed railway crossing at the Pale Jani railway station in Matiari.

1^st November, 2015 witnesses the Aab-e-Gum derailment. The jaffar express derails at Aab-e-gum leading to the deaths of 20 people and injuring 96 others.

2016:

On 15^th September, 2016 a passenger train collides with a freight train near Multan leading to the death of 6 people and injuring more than 150.

On 3^rd November, 2016 two passengers train collide near Karachi Landhi railway station claiming the lives of at least 21 people and injuring more than 60.

On 8^th October, 2016 a freight trains collides with a bus carrying workers of a factory at Landa level crossing near Gujjar chowk. This collisions takes the lives of 4 people while 10 others are injured.

2017:

Today on 6^th January, 2017 a rickshaw collides with a train at Lodhran Punjab. This leads to the sad demise of 8 people in total; comprising of 7 students and the rickshaw driver while 5 more students are severely injured.

If we were to formulae statistics based just on deaths and injuries per year, the graph would look something like this:

These deaths may have been reduced if not avoided completely if we had implemented the internationally practiced safety standards. As you may have heard, if you had listened to the Lodhran incident, that the operator of the gate/crossing didn’t have any communication equipment. He stated that when it wouldn’t be foggy, he would see the train coming and close the gates. Or if it was foggy, he would listen to the whistle and close the gate. Such primitive techniques at such an age is an insult to the entire railway industry.

Why hasn’t the ministry employed engineers and implemented simple yet effective sensor based technology to deal with the opening and closing of gates? The concept of these operators is not necessary. If we went for automation and regularly maintained and checked these sensors and the affiliated technology, we can effectively regulate the flow of traffic and thus avoid so many deaths. All the previous ministers and especially the current minister are answerable as to why despite the world evolving around them; they have worked hard to make sure that our railway remains in the stone age. Thus consequently, our innocent people end up becoming victims to it.

The responsible should answer for the lives that could have been saved. They shouldn’t just collect their fat pay checks. This too falls as their responsibility and as it is evident that they have not delivered, they must now be held accountable; it is only just.

Opportunity For Engineers

Fauji Fertilizer Company limited is looking for Management Trainees; they advertised the following advertisement on various news papers:

You can apply to your relevant field by accessing datacells.nts.org.pk. If you don’t already have an account there, I suggest you make one so you can gain access to alerts such as this one. And remember to keep checking it from time to time. The test schedule for the NTS test pertaining to this opportunity is as follows:

Remember the last date of application submission is 14^th January 2017. If you miss this one, then you will miss out on the test being held on 29^th January 2017 and then you’ll have to apply for the next one. As it is written on the ad that it’ll be a repetitive cycle so don’t fret if you miss the first chance.

I recommend to all my fellow engineers who are currently searching for opportunities to try out for this one. Fauji Fertilizer has been working in the manufacturing industry for ages and we’ve heard the name since childhood so it goes without saying that this experience can be very useful in our professional careers. So don’t miss out. 

New Year: A Glimpse into the future

We’re at the door step of 2017. 2016 will come to an end and we are now hoping for something better, something new, some pleasant changes with the new year. We are all busy in making new year’s resolutions and motivating one another to strive for more, avoid past mistakes and achieve more in the coming year. However, on the inside we already know what the future holds. We have already seen a glimpse of it and sadly we didn’t like it. We know what’s coming so we’ve decided that we’ll look the other way and we’ll rejoice about the happiness that we can capture right now. The darkness that has blotted this entire year is what spreads to the incoming year too. Some may call this being pessimistic but in reality, those some people know that this is the reality.

Let’s not just argue without facts, let’s look at an example that’ll prove my point: The Panama case. We saw what happened around the world thanks to it and we witnessed firsthand what happened in Pakistan. A whole lot of controversy resulted, a lot of cross talk was heard and then people protested. The protest may have been a tad bit over board but no one can argue that it is still a constitutional right. Therefore, even if the method was wrong and the attempt was depressing to say the least; the act of protest is very well justified and allowed in accordance to the constitution. Then, the protest led to a case. A case in the highest court of Pakistan: the supreme court. After all of the hearing and with all of the drama, what came of it? All that time spent, all that important, significant and invaluable time spent to decide the fate of the case went in vain. The judge himself finally stated that the incoming judge will have to hear the case all over again. So what did we do this year? We wasted a lot of time and a lot of resource and achieved nothing.

And what are we going to do this new year? Obviously we’ll be going through the same case and the same drama again. The invaluable time of the court will be spent on the same case over again. We all know the legal system, we all know what the media will do and we have seen throughout history what happens: nothing. That is why I say that we know what the future holds: it is dark and gloomy.

The intent of this article is not to spread pessimistic thoughts; it is to spread acceptance of what we have to deal with. And this is exactly what we need to accept. Only after acceptance will we be able to do something about it. We will be able to rearrange our mindset, we will be able to truly develop ourselves and we will be able to question those who exploit us, who deceive us and we will prevent them from doing it again.

This new year, make the resolution: we will understand, we will accept our challenges and we will fight because we have to. Only then, only when we stand together, we will achieve what we are really meant to achieve.