LAHORE: Railways Minister Khawaja Saad Rafique on Saturday said the government was determined to convert the PR into one of the best railways in the region.
Addressing the media on welcoming ceremony of Quetta-bound Jaffar Express Train on its first journey from Peshawar to Quetta at Railway Station here, he said extension of the route from Quetta to Peshawar would link the people of four provinces.
He termed the extension of route of the train a major step and contribution of the PR in the national unity.
The minister informed that few decades earlier, Chiltan Express Train was operated from Quetta to Peshawar and now the Jaffar Express would run on this route.
He said the PR was on a successful track despite of hurdles, problems and limited resources, adding that the railway was making progress continuously.
The minister informed that several agreements about uplift of railways would be signed during the visit of Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif to China.
"After the upgradation of Main Line 1 (ML-1) under China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project will start where trains will run at 160 km/hr in future," he added.
To a question, Saad said a strategy was under process to convert unmanned and signal-less level crossings into signal ones.
He said all the three rakes of Jaffar Express Train would be upgraded in next three months, however, upgraded rake of Pak Business Express train would be inaugurated soon.
"Spared coaches from these trains will be attached to the branch lines trains," he added.
To another question, he said response of the advertisement of expression of interest on several rail projects under Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) basis was positive and some prominent companies of the world were expected to show their interest in these projects.
He said out sourcing of the trains was a good experiment and more trains would be out sourced in future.
He hoped that the Khyber Pakhtunkhawa government would welcome the extension of Jaffar Express.
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