Railways declines to start new Rawalpindi-Kohat service

Pakistan Railways has declined the demand of the business community of the NWFP for launching a new passenger train services between Kohat and Rawalpindi, sources told Business Recorder on Wednesday.
"The senior officials in a communication sent to Sarhad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) have said that in the prevailing shortage of locomotives the ministry is not in position to launch a new train service," said an official on condition of anonymity.
The demand for starting of a new train service between Kohat and Rawalpindi was made by the officials of Sarhad Chamber on the occasion of the visit of Federal Minister for Railways, Sheikh Rashid Ahmad to the chamber last year.
The business communities besides launching of a new service have also made another demand for the up gradation of Kohat Railway Station. However, Pakistan Railways had said nothing in that regard.
The demand for starting new train service between Kohat and Rawalpindi was also made through a resolution passed by the executive committee of the chamber. The copy of the said resolution was sent to the Ministry of Railways. It has worth to mention here that Pakistan Railways during last calendar year had launched a number of non-stop train services in the country. The initiative helped increase the number of train passengers by two million.
Prominent among the new train services launched last year were including Peshawar Express, a non-stop speedy train service between Peshawar and Rawalpindi and Jinnah Express between Rawalpindi and Lahore.
When Business Recorder contacted, chairman of SCCI Standing Committee on Railways and Dryport, Zia-ul-Haq Sarhadi said that the demand was made along with launching of non-stop Pindi-Peshawar train service. Two-train service between Pindi-Peshawar was started, but now one of the services had stopped.
The Pakistan Railways in light of the failure of Peshawar-Pindi service had decided not to start Kohat-Pindi train service. However, he attributed the failure of Peshawar-Pindi non-stop train service to lack of interest of Pakistan Railways to woo passengers through advertisements in print and electronic media of the country.