Pakistan Railways Suspends New Winter Timetable After Widespread Delays

In a move to restore punctuality and service reliability, Pakistan Railways has withdrawn its recently introduced winter timetable after facing major disruptions and delays nationwide. Train operations will now revert to the previous schedule, effective from April to October 2025, until further notice.

The new winter timetable, launched earlier this month, was meant to optimize train operations during the colder months. However, the change resulted in widespread delays and mismanagement, exposing technical and signaling issues across key routes.

According to an official notification, the suspension applies to all major divisions Karachi, Sukkur, Multan, Lahore, Rawalpindi, Peshawar, and Quetta. The decision follows repeated complaints from passengers about hours-long delays and irregular departures.

Sources within the ministry revealed that railway teams failed to ensure punctuality under the new timetable due to engineering limitations, signaling malfunctions, and operational bottlenecks.

A senior railway official explained,

“The winter timetable was introduced to improve efficiency, but technical challenges made it unfeasible to continue. Normal operations will follow the previous schedule until systems are stabilized.”

Future Plans

The department stated that the winter schedule will remain suspended until all technical problems particularly in the engineering and signaling systems are resolved. Once improvements are completed, a revised timetable may be introduced.

Industry analysts believe this move will help Pakistan Railways regain passenger trust and schedule stability, though it highlights the urgent need for infrastructure modernization.