Islamabad, November 10,2026: The National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Railways has reviewed recent railway accidents, encroachments on railway land in Karachi Division and the proposed Railway Board Bill, 2026, while calling for concrete measures to improve railway safety and operational efficiency.
The committee met at Parliament House on Tuesday under the acting chairmanship of MNA Ramesh Lal.
The committee considered the government-sponsored Railway Board Bill, 2026, but decided to defer its consideration until its next meeting.
The Ministry of Railways briefed the committee on railway accidents reported across the country, stating that 89 incidents had occurred between January 1 and November 2, 2026, compared with 92 during the corresponding period last year.
The major causes included track-related problems, defects in rolling stock, human errors, violations by road users, sabotage, natural disasters and other operational failures.
The ministry identified ageing railway infrastructure, inadequate development funding, trespassing, violations at level crossings and foggy weather as contributing factors.
Pakistan Railways is working to reduce the accident ratio to below 0.19 per cent under its strategic roadmap.
The committee was informed that, out of 19,594 acres of railway land in Karachi Division, approximately 951.28 acres were under private encroachment, while another 307 acres were occupied by government entities.
The department reported that 363.907 acres of encroached land had been retrieved over the past four years.
It further informed the committee that encroachments covering approximately 8.992 acres had been removed between July and October 2026, with an estimated land value of Rs305.67 million.
The ministry also presented a comprehensive schedule for removing further encroachments during November 2026.
The committee stressed the need to protect valuable railway land through effective coordination with provincial and local administrations and to accelerate land retrieval operations.
It also called for concrete measures to improve railway safety, timely implementation of its previous recommendations and further enhancement of Pakistan Railways’ overall operational efficiency.
The meeting was attended by MNAs Ibrar Ahmed, Waseem Qadir, Munir Iqbal, Syeda Amnah Batool, Zulfikar Bachani, Sadiq Ali Memon, Dr Mahreen Razzaq Bhutto, Syed Waseem Hussain and Ahmed Saleem Siddiqui, along with officers of the Ministry of Railways and Pakistan Railways.
