Due to inceased incidence of tragic accidents happening in Pakistan on railway tracks, I have decided to write this safety roadmap to protect our citizens from any further loss of life. Like every time, today's tragedy is also the result of gross negligence of administration. This is epic failure of government in 3 years that another act of negligence takes lives of 40 innocent civilians.
Pakistan's number one problem is not presence of effective solutions BUT it is lack of implementation of effective solutions. Apparently this time as well, a blunder was committed at Karachi Cantt station that led to sudden traumatic loss of 40 people. Boggy #10's clip was broken per eye witness accounts of passengers. Train was delayed by 1 hour. Despite unstable boggy, the adminsitration allowed the train to take off using unstable temporary solution. Common word to describe such unstable temporary solutions is "Jugaad" in Pakistan. Unfortunately this "Jugaad" took life of 40 people crtically injuring 30 more. Here is my solution. I am writing some basic points that must be implemented to ensure Railways are safe for Pakistanis in the future. I demand implementation of these solutions within 48 hours.
1) Pakistan Railways department must be handed over completely to Pakistan Army for at least a year. No ifs & buts about it. Entire Railways Ministry must be suspended for 1 year. All funds of Railways must be managed exclusively by Pakistan Army for 1 year to reboot the system.
2) A complete safety algorithm must be enlisted at every station of Pakistan. This means a checklist that must be reviewed before departure of any train. I am hoping this is already in place. This algorithm must be available digitally. All points must be checked & entered electronically.
3) An independent team of experts must be placed at every city station. Their "ONLY" job should be to ensure that all trains meet the mimimum safety guidelines required before they can be allowed to depart.
4) This independent team will be monitored via CCTV by a central HQ in Islamabad where visibility of their actions will be monitored by another team 24/7.
5) Any flaw documented by independent station team will be recorded on a tablet app given to this team. This will be notified to the central HQ ASAP that will dispatch requested expert independently to the requested station within an hour. Logistic infrastructure will be in place to ensure expresss dispatch of technical staff to fix the flaw.
6) Once the flaw is fixed, the monitoring team on the station will re-evaluate the train. It will send its approval independently to the central HQ. Only when this approval is received can the train be allowed to depart.
7) All country-wide tracks must have a quarterly assessemnt done by the central HQ team of experts to ensure they are not in need of repair. Again-this team will be independent & have no connection with any station.
8) If a track requires repair, it must be notified to the central HQ independently & likewise the central HQ will dispatch appropriate technical staff within 48 hours to repair the track.
9) Drone surveillance of tracks & trains must be used 24/7 to facilitate prompt assessement of any cracks in the above-mentioned system. If something is missed by the station team experts, the drones can track it in time to prevent irrevocable damage.
This is 2021, not 1921. Kindly use technology to keep Railways safe for all our civilians. This is not rocket science where you can lose a space ship like Tesla every 4 months & get away with it saying that its all eperimental science right now. Train travel cannot be allowed to be so dangerous in Pakistan anymore. I see a lot of focus on superficial plastics but no emphasis on basics. Safety always comes first. Period. No ifs & buts about it.
-Dr FAB, MD
Chairperson
-Pakistan Islam Positive League
pakislamparty.org
-Free Kissan Free Pakistan
fkfp.pk
-Pakistan's Universal strategic hope
push.com.pk
-Friends of Kashmir & Gaza
friendsofk
ashmirandgaza.org
Associate Professor-Internal Medicine Banner University medical center, Phoenix, AZ, US
