PESHAWAR/NOWSHERA: Federal minister for railways Sheikh Rasheed Ahmad on Saturday promised the resumption of the Peshawar-Torkham safari train service and announced that the Pakistan Railways would increase the number of the countrywide freight trains from eight to 12 by next March.

“We will restart the safari train service from Peshawar to Torkham border under a public-private partnership. The service will be available on the Peshawar Museum-Taxila route,” he told reporters at the Cantonment Railways Station here.

The minister said the Pakistan Railways would run the Rehman Baba train from Peshawar to Karachi after its formal inauguration by Prime Minister Imran Khan on Dec 25.

Says PR to increase freight trains, upgrade tracks

He said the number of the countrywide freight trains would go up from eight to 12 by next March.

The minister said the upgradation of the strategic Mainline II and III tracks would reinforce the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor project and that the Pakistan Railways was keen to engage the Chinese companies for the purpose.

He said efforts were being made to make the Pakistan Railways a profitable institution using innovative ways.

Mr Ahmad said the ML-I project was inevitable for the development of the Pakistan Railways and that the mode of investment for it would be determined by the prime minister after the completion of initial report on it by Dec 25.

He said the 1,872km railway track would be rehabilitated and upgraded under an agreement between the Pakistan Railways and the National Railway Administration of China.

The minister said the Russian and German companies were interested to get the contracts of ML-II and ML-III tracks but Chinese firms were the PR’s topmost preference in that respect.

He said the department had planned to lay new double tracks from Peshawar to Karachi and fencing around the railway property.

Mr Ahmad said the PR had planned to give all railways schools and hospitals to private sector or run then on public-private partnership basis for better management.

He sought the cooperation of the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation for the removal of illegally-built 5,000-10,000 houses from the Pakistan Railways’ land.

He directed the authorities of Peshawar divisional office to remove the customs’ outdated vehicles from the cantonment railway stations by Dec 20.

In Nowshera, the railway minister visited the Locomotive Factory, Risalpur, and addressed the locomotive factories’ employees.

He said the last government had purchased 55 locomotives for Rs400 million each without justification, while Rs220 million locomotives were bought at the rate higher than market’s.

The minister said massive corruption had given the country a bad name and former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and former president Asif Ali Zardari were to blame for it.

He said he would recommend one-scale promotion for the employees of all locomotives factories if five faulty engines were repaired.

The minister announced the upgradation of the railway hospital and ordered the immediate purchase of one ambulance for it.

He said the government was trying to bring the latest technology and foreign investment to locomotive factory to advance its capacity.

The minister planned a sapling in the factory under the prime minister’s Green and Clean Pakistan campaign.

Published in Dawn, November 25th, 2018