The Islamabad Express, launched just two hours earlier, derailed near Sohawa on Friday evening following a technical fault, injuring several passengers but fortunately causing no fatalities.
The train had been inaugurated by Federal Minister for Railways Hanif Abbasi at 5:30 PM, but around 7:30 PM, it came off the tracks near the hilly terrain of Sohawa with a loud crash, leaving several coaches badly damaged. Rail traffic remained suspended on both up and down tracks for approximately three hours.
According to passengers Arshad Ali and Rustam, the train had slowed as it entered the hilly section, and “strange sounds were coming from underneath” moments before the derailment. “It felt like an earthquake,” they recalled, noting that while some passengers sustained injuries, all survived.
Railway unions attributed the accident to the use of refurbished and discarded coaches, alleging they had been repainted and presented as new.
Union representatives further claimed that essential safety equipment was missing and that repeated requests for proper maintenance and passenger safety materials had been ignored.
The Divisional Superintendent of Railways, Rawalpindi, stated that engineers and technical staff were immediately dispatched to the site upon receiving reports of the incident.
Rescue teams from Jhelum and Sohawa also joined the operation, helping clear the track and restore rail traffic after several hours. Senior railway officials, including the Chief Mechanical Engineer and Chief Engineer, reached the site on Friday night to initiate an internal inquiry, with a preliminary report expected in the coming days.
Railway sources revealed that the section near Sohawa had long-standing alignment issues previously reported to higher authorities. The initial investigation suggests that a misaligned junction point may have caused one of the wheels to slip off the track, leading to the derailment.
