November 18, 2006	Saturday	Shawwal 25, 1427

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LAHORE, Nov 17: Pakistan Railways will introduce a ‘VIP’ and an economy class train between Lahore and Karachi from the next year besides an express train between Rawalpindi and Peshawar next month.

The Peshawar Express will start shuttling between Rawalpindi and Peshawar from Dec 1 and will make six trips each day, federal minister for railways Sheikh Rashid Ahmad told a news conference here on Friday.

He said the PR would introduce concessional fare between the two cities for three months. A similar shuttle service, he said, would be introduced later between Karachi and Hyderabad.

The minister said the PR would rehabilitate the tracks between Lahore and Karachi from the new calendar year to reduce travel time. The rehabilitation project also included the eliminating as many as 46 railway crossings on the section.

He said prime minister Shaukat Aziz would inaugurate the dual track between Lodhran and Khanewal next week.

Another project on the cards next year, Sheikh Rashid said, was augmenting the branch line network to facilitate people from smaller cities and towns to travel by train, a trend which had declined considerably over the years. He said the PR was expected to import 20 locomotives from China. He said some of the locomotives now hauling main line trains would be spared for operation on branch lines. He said that branch line services would preferably be reactivated with the help of the private sector.

BULLET TRAIN: Sheikh Rashid said that the response to the proposed bullet train project had been ‘highly encouraging’ as 10 international bidders had so far sent their letters of intent. However, the final decision on the BOT-based project would be taken by the federal cabinet, he said.