KARACHI, Oct 24: Drawing long and heartily on his stout trademark cigar and exchanging quips with newsmen before the beginning of the press conference at a hotel here on Tuesday, Federal Minister for Railways Shaikh Rashid Ahmed knew from the beginning that the purpose of the event would be derailed by the current political situation.
As expected, representatives of TV channels and newspapers forgot about what he was seeking to highlight and asked questions centred on PPP chief Benazir Bhutto.
It was his last press conference in the city as minister in the current cabinet. And he wanted to underscore the performance of the railways ministry he heads. He said the low-fare Bhambore Express, to be launched by the prime minister on Oct 26, would ferry low-paid workers travelling between Karachi and other cities of the country.
The minister thanked City Nazim Syed Mustafa Kamal and Sindh Governor Ishratul Ibad for allowing the Pakistan Railways an 18-inch diameter water supply line for its washing yards. He said the Railways, which earned the bulk of its revenue from the freight and passenger load originating at Karachi, had badly needed the water supply. Now the trains could fill water at Karachi instead of Kotri and Hyderabad stations.
The minister said Karachi’s Cantonment Station would be expanded to accommodate as many as 100,000 passengers, a project that would cost Rs400 million.
He claimed that it was for the first time that the Railways had earned Rs3bn in annual revenue. He also spelled out the projects his ministry planned before the tenure of the present government expired. Among them was the rehabilitation of the double track between Karachi and Lahore, which will make travel between the two cities faster.
Several new trains have been launched by the ministry. The trains introduced to run from Karachi for up-country destinations are the Jinnah Express, Pakistan Express, Burraq Express and Sindh Express.
The reservation of seats has also become a smoother process, unlike in the past, when a mafia ran a racket aided by the coolies and railway police. People stood in long queues from the small hours and only a few of them were issued tickets. The rest were told that no more seats were available.
However, the same seats were readily available with the coolies and policemen, but at several times the original price. Officials from the bottom to the top benefited from this at the cost of poor passengers. Seats in the upper classes were a little easier to get.
Now seats can be reserved at the railway booking offices and agencies without any extra charges, even by using credit cards.
Poor travellers, however, still suffer delays and lack of facilities. For instance, only one of the two lamps in the compartments is lit at night; the old style fans, if in working order, can hardly have any cooling effect in the hot weather. So the windows are opened for relief and resultantly the passengers are covered in dust.
Some of the trains are scheduled at unearthly times. For example, the Hazara Express originates after 3pm at the Havelian railway station and arrives here well past midnight, when the only available transport is expensive cabs.
The economical trains are pushed out of the way for the expensive trains, their schedules are affected and poor passengers are left to perspire. This policy negates the notion that the ministry cares about the poor.
