Railway union plea to govt

KARACHI: The Pakistan Railways Workers' Union has urged the government to force the private company to bring in its own investment and staff to run the Railway coaches on a particular route.

"There is no need of a private firm if hired to run the existing coaches with the present staff on Karachi-Lahore routes," said Central Chairman of Workers Union, Manzoor Razi in a statement here on Sunday.

He said that a Lahore based firm has been given the contract to supervise the ticketing and refreshment affairs for passengers at the Lahore based routes of Pakistan Railways.

The Union leader said that the PR (Pakistan Railways) needs to improve its existing infrastructure and overhaul the engines of the trains.

"It would be futile exercise to give 12 percent commission to the private firm for management of ticketing affairs despite the fact that all system has been computerised," he pointed out.

He further appealed to the government to provide level playing field to the government run-management of PR and the private firm to bring its own private railway and prove its efficiency.

Copyright APP (Associated Press of Pakistan), 2011