LAHORE: Commuters will continue to avail themselves of the concession on fares for another three months while two passenger trains will be restored from next month.

“At least seven freight trains will be leaving Karachi for upcountry destinations by the end of October,” Minister for Railways Khwaja Saad Rafique said at a press conference at the PR headquarters here on Monday.

The Railway Freight Transportation Company would be formed to facilitate coal transportation to the power generation plants by the end of this year and the track from Port Qasim to Karachi would also be dualised for the purpose, he said.

The minister said the rail traffic was suspended only between Shorkot and Jhang because of floods. “The route of Hazara Express and Sandal Express has temporarily been changed and the two trains are running through Faisalabad to facilitate passengers on the route.

Arrangements have been made to ensure uninterrupted supply of petroleum goods to Muzaffargarh and Lal Pir refineries through Jacobabad, Kashmore, Dera Ghazi Khan and Kot Addu,” he said and added trains service had been restored on Shahdara-Narowal, Wazirabad-Sialkot and Narowal-Sialkot sections after repair and rehabilitation of the track.

Mr Rafique said that Musa Pak and Mehran Express would resume operation when the winter timetable took effect from next month.

Comprising one AC parlour, two AC business and five economy class coaches, Musa Pak would be covering the distance between Lahore and Multan in four hours and 30 minutes. It would be leaving Lahore at 12:30am and Multan at 4pm.

Mehran Express would be covering the distance between Karachi and Mirpur Khas in four hours and 45 minutes. Having a capacity of 736 passengers, the express train comprising nine economy class coaches would be leaving Karachi City at 2:50pm and Mirpur Khas at 5am.

Published in Dawn, September 16th , 2014