LAHORE, Aug 20: Minister for Railways Sheikh Rashid Ahmad has said the railways suffered a loss of between Rs250 million and Rs300 million because of the suspension of train service in the wake of torrential rains which damaged tracks, adding that the loss was despite the fact that the seat occupancy rate had increased manifold on trains operating in interior Sindh and Balochistan.

He was talking to newsmen at the Pakistan Railways headquarters on Sunday.

He said that the Frontier Works Organisation (FWO) would reconstruct the bridge near the Ran Pathani station in Thatta district that had been damaged by floodwater on July 30, adding that Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz had granted permission to award the contract to the FWO.

“At least four months were required to complete the process of inviting bids, evaluating scrutiny of the participants, etc., but we decided to shelve the formalities to expedite the construction of the bridge by awarding the contract to the FWO, which is a government department,” the minister said.

He said a committee comprising railways and army engineers had been constituted to finalise a strategy for constantly repairing and maintaining the 14,000 bridges on the railways network, adding that a survey regarding the condition of bridges had also been carried out.

He said that seven freight trains had reached Hyderabad through a temporary bridge near Ran Pathani station ever since Saturday evening when the train service to and from Karachi resumed.

Mr Rashid said the suspension of train service had left at least 3,000 freight wagons — 60 empty and 20 loaded ones — stranded at Karachi, adding that passenger and freight trains’ operations would normalise from three to seven days.

He said: “All railway employees deserve a pat on the back for restoring the train service within the shortest possible time in spite of the hostile weather. I regret the inconvenience the passengers and the business community suffered owing to rail traffic suspension and am thankful to them for cooperating with the railways in the crisis.”

He said the first high-capacity freight wagon, manufactured at the Pakistan Railways Mughalpura Workshop with assistance from Chinese engineers, will roll out by the end of the current month or in the first week of September.