LAHORE - The strike of the railways employees over non-payment of salaries kept thousands of passengers stranded for 10 hours at Lahore Railway Station on Monday. Huge crowd was witnessed at the station as the outsiders were leaving Lahore to celebrate Eidul Azha with their families. None of the train could leave the station for about 10 hours due to protest demonstration of the employees, however, the strike ended after they were assured of salaries on Tuesday (today) by General Manager Railways Ishfaq Khattak. Meanwhile, the schedule of dozens of trains was also interrupted which would further increase the problems of the passengers and they would hardly reach their destination before Eid. It will also take days for manage the earlier schedule of the trains. The schedules of trains which were affected include Karakoram Express, Tezgam, Allama Iqbal Express, Jafar Express, Quetta Express and others. Many of the trains for near stations like Narowal, Faisalabad and others were also stopped by the employees. I am the resident of Karachi, a passenger told TheNation, and waiting for Karakoram Express for the last four hours, he added. There is no facility for passengers there even for sitting while my family is waiting for me at home. I may not reach home before Eid, he mourned. Hundreds of employees of Loco-shed, Lahore Railway Station, Railway Workshop and Washing Line were on strike due to unavailability of salaries before Eid while some of them were protesting that 'the cheques given to them by the department were bounced. They shouted slogans against the railway authorities claiming that they met with same treatment during every month. We will not allow any train to depart until the issuance of our salaries, they added. The trains resumed after the end of the protest late at evening. Talking to TheNation, the official seeking anonymity said that the cash stricken department was unable to pay the salaries to its employees. The railway was demanding Rs five billion from the federal government, he added. He said that the situation would become further serious if the government do not pay attention to the Pakistan Railways.