MULTAN: Federal Railways Minister Sheikh Rashid said that Thal Express, running between Rawalpindi and Multan through Kundian, is going to be resumed on the directions of Prime Minister Imran Khan and inaugurated within a month.

Talking to the media here on Sunday, the minister said that reservation rate for Faisalabad Express, running between Multan and Faisalabad, was 140 per cent from Friday to Sunday and 100pc for the rest of the week.

So far, he said, fine was being imposed on passengers travelling by train without purchasing tickets; however now the government had decided to lodge cases against such passengers. He added that there were 7,000 employees of railways police and in their presence there was no need to establish a vigilance cell.

“I had dissolved the vigilance cell in the past and I am going to dissolve it again,” he said.

The minister claimed that the number of railway passengers had increased up to 40pc during the last four months.

Talking about recruitment in the department, he said the case for new appointments in railways would be placed before the prime minister. “Hundreds of thousands of applications have been received against a few thousand posts,” he added.

He further mentioned some measures the department was taking for facilitating travellers, including establishing a waiting room for passengers at the Multan railway station and resumption of the women’s coaches after 14 years.

Mr Rashid dispelled any rift within the ruling coalition in Punjab, saying the PML-Q was not parting ways with the government. “There are no chances of an in-house change,” he added.

He further said he would hold Shahbaz Sharif accountable after becoming a member of the Public Accounts Committee.

Earlier, addressing members of the Multan Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the minister suggested that industrialists should come forward to run freight trains. Railways had a shortage of coaches for passenger trains, while the Thal Express was also going to be resumed with old coaches. “Railways is facing shortage of funds,” he claimed, and said a railway ticket in Japan is costlier as compared to an air ticket there.

Published in Dawn, January 21st, 2019