KARACHI, June 25: Federal Minster for Railways Shaikh Rashid Ahmad has said that ticketing in the Pakistan Railway will go online by July 20. Addressing a press conference on Monday, he said ticketing at all major stations would go online to prevent corruption and the same process would be adopted for freight trains later.

He said that travel time between Karachi and Lahore would be curtailed by six hours, adding that the travel time between Karachi and Hyderabad would be cut by half.

He mentioned that Prime Minster Shaukat Aziz had promised that he would grant pension facilities to around 250,000 railway workers at once and then the Pakistan Railway (PR) would move towards a ‘deficit-free era’.

The minister said the PR revenue was raised by Rs2 billion last year and the number of passengers rose by three million, which could have been around five million if the Ran Pathani bridge accident had not occurred last year.

He visited five railway bridges between Karachi and Kotri and found them in a good condition despite heavy rains, he said, adding that still Rs50 million had been allocated for their improvement. Three new platforms would be built at the Karachi Cantonment Railway Station to increase its capacity from 50,000 to 10,0000 tons by the next year, he said.—PPI