PR’s deficit reduced from Rs 36bn to Rs 32bn in last ten months: Rashid

RAWALPINDI: Minister for Railways Sheikh Rashid Ahmed on Wednesday said that Pakistan Railway’s  deficit  had been reduced from Rs 36 billion to Rs 32 billion in the last ten months and vowed to end the entire losses during the next five years.

Speaking at inauguration ceremony of Sir Syed Express here, he said efforts were being made to make Pakistan railways a profitable entity while the number of fright trains would also be increased.

He said the number of railways passengers had been grown to over six million  during the last nine months and our target for the next year was ten million passengers.

He said un-functional track of 1861 of Pakistan Railways in Sindh province had been restored.

The minister said the ML1 project, under which a new railway track would be laid from Peshawar to Karachi was his old dream and it would boost performance of Pakistan Railways.

He said after its approval from the ECNEC, the project would be inaugurated from the four provinces in the current month.

Shaikh Rashid said after completion of MLI, project travelling time between Rawalpindi to Karachi would be reduced to just ten hours.

He said a new Command and Control system was being set up for timely arrival and departure of trains while wifi facilities at all railways stations had been provided.

The minister thanked the prime minister for allocating Rs 1.5 billion for Mother and Child Hospital in Rawalpindi in the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP).