PESHAWAR: Federal Minister for Railways Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said on Saturday that Pakistan Railways was facing Rs25 billion losses due to wrong policies of the previous government, but even then he did not allow increase in the fares and devised an effective strategy to restore train service on all the routes. He said that the government was seriously considering restoration of Peshawar-Torkham Safari and Dargai passenger trains.

He expressed these views at a press conference after attending a meeting at PR divisional office at Cantonment Railways Station, Peshawar. He announced start of Rehman Baba Express train service between Peshawar and Karachi from Sunday (today).

The minister said that Pakistan Railways was launching the Rehman Baba Express mainly for the low-income group as fare would be low and affordable. He said that the new train would reduce the travel duration between Peshawar and Karachi by 7-9 hours and the fare would be Rs1,350.

Sheikh Rashid says strategy devised to restore service on all routes

Mr Ahmed claimed that he himself would monitor the operation and timings of the express train. He said that steps were being taken to improve standard of the train service and provide maximum relief to the people.

He said that about 20 new trains would be launched next year. He said that PR had also planned to start three tourism and business trains in future. He said that freight trains would also be increased from 10 to 15 to reduce the department’s losses.

The minister said that the entire tracks infrastructure would be changed in the country. He said that new stations would be established at Nowshera, Jehangira and Attock and new track for Torkham would be stretched via Shalman area.

He said that the government was committed to bringing the country out of the financial crisis. He said that they inherited weak economy from the PML-N government, which had brought the country to the brink of collapse.

He said that the railway tracks built in the British era had completed their life and efforts were underway to replace them, which was a challenging task.

Commenting on the current national affairs, he said that he had raised objection to Shahbaz Sharif’s appointment as the chairman of Public Accounts Committee. He said that if Shahbaz Sharif was an honest person then there was no dishonest person in PML-N.

He said that poor people were held responsible to face imprisonment, but the influential were admitted to the hospitals. He said that there was no precedent of issuing production orders during remand. He said Prime Minister Imran Khan was a simple and honest politician who wanted to put the country on the path of progress.

The minister also addressed businessmen at Sarhad Chamber of Commerce and Industry and assured them that Pakistan Railways would extend full support to the exporters and importers to boost the local economy.

The SCCI leaders, including its chief Faiz Mohammad, talked about the problems being faced by the business community.

Published in Dawn, December 23rd, 2018