Passengers of the Karachi-bound Allama Iqbal Express faced trouble on Sunday after the train’s engine failed at Jahanian Railway Station, forcing it to stop for more than two hours, 24News reported.
The train was travelling from Sialkot to Karachi when its engine suddenly developed a fault at the station, bringing the journey to an unexpected halt.
As a result, the train remained parked at Jahanian Railway Station for over two hours, delaying its journey, while passengers faced difficulties due to the unexpected delay and waited for the train to resume its journey.
Railway authorities had yet to restore the engine or arrange another locomotive to move the train forward at the time of the report, leaving passengers waiting at the station.
Jahanian is a railway station in Punjab’s Khanewal district, on the main line that carries long-distance services between the north of the country and Karachi.
The Allama Iqbal Express is one of the long-distance passenger services linking Sialkot with Karachi, and its passengers include people travelling the full length of the route as well as those boarding at stations along the way.
Engine failures have disrupted long-distance rail services in recent days. Earlier this week, a Green Line Express service travelling from Lahore to Karachi was also halted after its engine developed a fault near Odero Lal station in Sindh’s Matiari district, according to reports, and a relief locomotive had to be sent before the service could continue its journey.
In that earlier incident, passengers were left waiting for hours until the replacement locomotive arrived and the train could resume its journey towards Karachi with a delay of several hours.
Train services on the busy Karachi to Peshawar main line carry large numbers of passengers every day, and a fault in a locomotive can hold up not only the affected train but also services behind it on the same track.
Passengers on the Allama Iqbal Express were waiting at Jahanian for the railway authorities to arrange a replacement engine so that the train could continue towards Karachi.
The report did not say when the train would resume its journey, and no further details about the fault in the engine had been released.
