LAHORE: Pakistan Railways (PR) would resume operations of two passenger trains in October. This will generate a revenue of Rs180 million annually, Railway Minister Khwaja Saad Rafiq said on Monday.
He was addressing a press conference at the PR Headquarters.
The minister said Musa Pak Express, with an AC parlour, two AC business and five economy class coaches, would run between Lahore and Multan. Mehran Express would pull nine economy coaches between Mirpur Khas and Karachi, Rafiq said.
He said the trains would transport around 780,000 passengers annually.
He said when he had assumed the ministry, there were only eight locomotives in the freight pool. The number had risen to 35 and it would reach 50 by the end of October, he said.
The minister said the number of operational freight trains would become seven after the induction of new locomotives. Out of 10 NLC locomotives, six had been added to the system, Rafiq said.
He said the PR had resumed Parcel Express in the first week of September. The service was suspended in July 2011. He said oil trains would continue to ferry the fuel during floods.
He said the train service between Sailkot, Wazirabad, Shahdara and Narowal, which had suspended after the floods, had now been restored. The service between Shorkot and Jhang was still suspended, he said.
The minister said the PR expected to generate revenue of Rs30 billion this year against the target of Rs28 billion set by the government.
He said the Railways Freight Transport Company would be established to transport coal from Bin Qasim to coal-fired power plants in the Punjab. He said the concession in fare would continue until the end of December this year.
Rafiq said the PR would start disbursing pensions through a computerised system by the end of November. He said the management of Business Train had defaulted on Rs1 billion.
The minister said recruitments in the PR were made on merit, the minister added.
He accused Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf chairman Imran Khan and Pakistan Awami Tehreek of using derogatory remarks against the government. He requested the chief justice of Pakistan to take notice of the foul language being used by the two leaders.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 16th, 2014.
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Sir mehran express departure time from mirpurkhas set as 6am plz. because 5am is so early and not suitable of Mir pur khas people
Why not coal from Thar. Will the Government say some thing in defence