PR upgrade six railway stations at cost of Rs1461.36mn

• The official said that Pakistan Railways was also planning to reconstruct 11 bridges and repair another 55 across the country to ensure smooth operation of trains and safety of the passengers.
• He said around 86 percent of bridges were more than 100 years old but all of them were safe for train operation due to regular maintenance, rehabilitation and strengthening of the bridges.

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Railways has upgraded six railway stations in different parts of the country at the cost of Rs. 1461.36 million during the last four years.

The names of the upgraded railway stations were Bahawalpur, Raiwind, Narowal, Okara, Sahiwal and Gujranwala, an official in the Ministry of Railways told APP on Thursday.

He said that the upgradation works of the five railway stations including Hassan Abdal, Nakana Sahib, Peshawar Cantonment, Karachi Cantonment and Lahore were in progress and would completed soon.

The official said the basic aim of the upgradation was to facilitate the passengers and improve the outlook and modernize the railway stations.

He said that now Pakistan Railways had upgraded the passenger waiting halls, prayer area, operation offices, water filtration plant, toilets, passenger shelter, platforms, ticket counters, parking area and external development work.

Regarding the two railway stations of Rawalpindi and Rohri, the official said that the tenders had been floated and under process of final approval.

To a question, he said that the present government was encouraging the private partners and builders for renovation and upgradation of the railway stations.

The official said that Pakistan Railways was also planning to reconstruct 11 bridges and repair another 55 across the country to ensure smooth operation of trains and safety of the passengers.

Giving detail, he said the department would reconstruct three bridges in Sukkur Division, six in Multan and two in Lahore.

About the repair of bridges in different divisions, he said Pakistan Railways had planned to repair 34 bridges in Karachi, 11 in Sukkur, two in Multan, five in Rawalpindi, two in Peshawar and one in Quetta.

He said around 86 percent of bridges were more than 100 years old but all of them were safe for train operation due to regular maintenance, rehabilitation and strengthening of the bridges.

The official said there were 13,959 major and minor bridges over the system and their design life varies for different years.

The standard operating procedure calls for inspection of bridges in accordance with the different schedules like monthly, quarterly, biannually and annually, he added.