KARACHI, May 3: The Pakistan Railways, Karachi Division, is seeking permission from the federal government for increasing the passenger capacity from 354 to 610 in the weekly Thar Express operating between Karachi and Jodhpur.
A number of people from Pakistan cannot visit their relatives in India due to the limited capacity of the Thar Express and have to wait for several weeks despite having obtained their visas, said PR officials.
According to the Deputy Superintendent, Railways, Maqsoodun Nabi, in order to deal with heavy rush in Thar Express and accommodate more passengers, the Railways wanted to take some necessary action but had to seek permission from the federal authorities.According to the agreement signed between Pakistan and India, Thar Express consists only of seven coaches.
Three coaches of the economy class have 78 seats each, two coaches of the same class with a power plant have 32 seats each and two coaches of the first class sleeper have only 54 seats, thus making the total capacity of 354 passengers a week.
The PR suggested in a letter to the federal government that with the increase of two coaches, the railways would be able to accommodate 156 passengers more.
Replacement of first class sleeper coaches with economy class will also increase the capacity of 100 passengers, it was added.
According to Divisional Commercial Officer Hasan Tahir Bukhari, booking of every passenger train opens a month before and almost all the seats in Thar Express get booked on the very first day.
“There is no seat in the train scheduled on May 4, 11, 18, 25 and June 1,” he said.—PPI
