Shortage of locomotives: 'Railways heading towards suspending its countrywide operations'

Federal Minister for Railway has said Pakistan Railways is heading towards suspension of its countrywide trains operations because of acute shortage of locomotives and denial of Ministry of Finance to give it the promised Rs 11.1 billion bailout package announced by the Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani.
While talking to reporters at Carriage workshop Mugulpura here on Saturday he said that more than 90 percent people in Pakistan can't afford air travel and for an overwhelming majority it is next to impossible to travel by road even. Hence one can easily imagine what will happen when more trains operations are suspended, he said.
It may be mentioned here that the federal cabinet had approved the package in December last year, but not a penny was released to the railways so far, which annually transports around 81 million people. Pakistan Railway has 526 locomotives at its disposal. But hardly 150 are in operation, while the rest are rusting because of non-availability of funds for their repair.
Bilour said that Nawaz Sharif's decision to own turncoats of PML-Q in the Punjab government was absolutely against democratic principles. He further said the PML-Q dissidents should resign from their seats and contest elections if they want to change their affiliations. He said that Nawaz Sharif should have not initiated the politics of the 90's.
When asked, he said the present government had a mandate for five years and would complete its tenure, adding that there was no chance of mid-term elections in the country. In response to a question, he said that every one was shouting on the murder of three Punjabis by American Raymond Davis at Lahore but hundreds of people were killed in Khyber-Pakhtunkhua and the media did not highlight it properly.
He said the PR had been operating since 2007 without any financial assistance by the government, adding that as soon as the PR gets funds from the federal government its rehabilitation would start. Comparing Indian Railway with Pakistan, he said that Indian government had allocated 12 billions $ for the Railway but unfortunately, "our present government is unwilling to give 12 billion rupees" he maintained.