Minister for Railways Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed on Saturday said Pakistan Railways has been put on modernisation track by initiating a number of development projects.
"We have set base for the modernisation of PR, that will take the mega organisation forward to achieve the goal for making it matching to the international standards," he said while talking to APP.
He said the much-awaited project for dualisation of track between Lahore and Karachi, which was being carried out in phases, would be completed by December this year.
The last phase of the project was to be completed in four years but its being completed in a shortest period of one year by the Frontier Works Organisation (FWO).
He said the last phase of the dualisation of the track was initiated in January 2007 at a cost of Rs 5.3 billion, covering a distance of around 250 kms from Raiwaind to Khanewal. After completion of the project around four hours travelling time would be curtailed between both the destinations (Lahore-Karachi).
He said the replacement of old signalling system with the most modern gadgetry on Lahore-Karachi section is also being carried out. Meanwhile, he said the dualisation of track between Lahore and Rawalpindi is also being carried out in phases. In its first phase he said the track would be dualised between Shahdara and Wazirabad.
He said efforts are afoot to reduce running time from 3.5 hours to 2.5 hours by doing away with the curves and sharp turns on the way of the track. He said prior to July 2006, the train used to take five hours between Lahore and Rawalpindi and due to his personal efforts the journey time has been reduced to 3.5 hours.
He said since June 2006, new 23 express trains have been introduced to provide maximum accommodation to the passenger traffic on various routes. He said Quetta-Gwadar and Quetta-Taftan sections are also being given attention for the laying and renovation of track.
In addition to that the Railway Minister said that 12 freight trains have been initiated while efforts are afoot to further strengthen the freight sector of PR.
He said the major handicap in this sector was non-availability of freight coaches. However, efforts are in hand to procure coaches from friendly country of China.
On the international routes, he said PR has planned to initiate works on Quetta-Kandhar and Havelian-China sectors are also in hand. Answering a question, he said revenue of Rs 2 billion has been increased during the last one year while around three million passengers have been added among the list of PR travellers.
He said all this was achieved following passenger-friendly approach of the PR.
He said that due to time and again collapse of bridge at Run-Pathani railway station, during the last year has incurred losses to the PR. He said Lahore-Karachi being lifeline for railways remained disturbed due to the collapse of the Run-Pathani bridge.
He especially made reference to the recently launched projects like e-ticketing, issuance of tickets through credit cards and ticket delivery at buyers end. He said these projects would also play vital role in modernidation of the PR.