Just two hours after its inauguration, the Islamabad Express derailed near Sohawa on Friday evening due to a technical fault, injuring several passengers but causing no fatalities.
The train, inaugurated by Federal Minister for Railways Hanif Abbasi at 5:30 PM, went off the tracks around 7:30 PM while passing through the hilly Sohawa area, with a loud crash that damaged several coaches and halted rail traffic in both directions for about three hours.
Passengers Arshad Ali and Rustam shared that the train had slowed down before the incident and “strange sounds were coming from underneath” moments earlier. “It felt like an earthquake”, they recalled, adding that although some were hurt, everyone survived.
Railway unions blamed the derailment on the use of old, refurbished coaches painted to look new, alleging that crucial safety equipment was missing and repeated safety requests were ignored.
According to the Divisional Superintendent of Railways, Rawalpindi, engineers and technical staff were immediately dispatched to the scene, joined by rescue teams from Jhelum and Sohawa, who managed to restore the track after three hours.
Senior officials, including the Chief Mechanical Engineer and Chief Engineer, also visited the site to begin an inquiry, with an initial report expected soon.
Railway sources revealed that the Sohawa section had long-standing alignment issues already reported to higher authorities, and the likely cause of the derailment was a misaligned junction point that caused one wheel to slip off the track.