Commuters protest train stop elimination
SADIQABAD, April 11 Citizens have announced stopping Shalimar Express train at the Sadiqabad railway station as a mark of protest on Sunday (today).
It has also been decided to block the main railway track on April 15 to protest the ending of stoppage of Shalimar Express by the railways authorities at Sadiqabad railway station with effect from April 15.
These decisions were taken in a meeting held under the auspices of the citizen`s forum here on Saturday. Tehsil Nazim Dr Taloot Saleem Bajwa, PPP city president Rana Qamar-uz-Zaman Khan, JUI`s Maulana Abdul Samad, traders Khalid Mehmood, Chaudhry Anwar, Mairaj Muhammad Khan and others spoke on the occasion.
They said the government was ignoring the interests of railway passengers by ending whatever little facilities available to them.
Instead of introducing new trains for the convenience of passengers whose numbers were growing rapidly, the railway authorities were out to restrict the traveling facilities, they said. Dr Bajwa said the people were determined to get the Shalimar Express train stoppage revived at the Sadiqabad railway station.
Abdullah Abid, a spokesman for the merchants association, threatened to stage a sit-in on the main railway track if the railway authorities did not withdraw the decision.
BAHAWALPUR The Pakistan Railways have abolished Bahawalpur stoppage of two express trains running between Lahore and Karachi with the enforcement of new railway timetable from April 15.
It is learnt that the reservation of seats in Shalimar Express (27-Up, 28-Down) and Karakuram Express (41-Up, 42-Down) had already been stopped some two days back.
Station Master Taj Muhammad confirmed that the stoppage of two passenger trains had been abolished at the Bahawalpur railway station and as such the reservation of seats for local passengers had also been stopped.
The stoppage of Shalimar Express at the Bahawalpur railway station was approved during the second tenure of the late prime minister Benazir Bhutto when Farooq Azam Malik was the minister of state for railways.