Railways to be made outstanding, exalted department

LAHORE: Pakistan Railways Minister Khawaja Saad Rafique has said that Raiways will not only be restored to its best form but it will be made an outstanding, matchless and exalted department.

He was addressing a meeting on the progress of a rail car operation between Rawalpindi and Kohat. The meeting was held at Railways Headquarters, here on Saturday.

He said that the role of the PR would be converted into a regulator so that process of providing travel facilities to passengers could be made easy, fast and comprehensive.

He said that after World War-II, no investment and value addition had been made in Railways of the region, but this century-old system could not be run any more.

"Either due to billions of rupees investment under the CPEC or due to the money the department is making, the time has reached that the dream of an up-to-date railways is realised," he added.

He stated that several changes are going to be brought about in the rail service in Sindh, especially between Mirpur Khas and Hyderabad, while it is being extended to Karachi as well.

The minister was informed in the meeting that the work on Sibi and Harnai section is underway, and the Rawalpindi-Kohat section is being rehabilitated along with construction of Kohat Railway Station, which will be completed in three to four months.

Saad directed the PR administration to expedite pace of work of all sections.

He ordered for using new coaches for the rail car between Rawalpindi and Kohat, and the fare should be less than the road transport facilities, so that a gift can be given to the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP) people, as promised by Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif.

The minister was also briefed about the speed, time and facilities of trains, which run between big cities.

The meeting was attended by PR Chief Executive Officer Javed Anwar, Member of Finance Gulam Mustafa, GM Infrastructure Humayun Rashid, and Additional GM Traffic Abdul Hamid Razi, GM Mechanical Ansar Billah, CCM Naveed Mubashar, COPS Waqar Shahid and other officers.