LAHORE – Railways Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmad has said that 1,872kilometres track without any railway crossing or gate will be laid on MainLine-1 (ML-1) with the cooperation of China.
Talking to the media at the inaugural ceremony of Railways Cuisine with thecooperation of Royal Palm at the Railway Station here on Thursday, he saidthe train would complete its journey from Lahore to Karachi in six hoursand from Rawalpindi to Karachi in eight hours after the completion of theML-1.
He announced to reduce 10 per cent fare in freight from tonight and saidthat the decision had been taken to remain in the market which would bereviewed on December 25 again.
He said that a Railway Food Court would also be introduced from December 25and the railways would be able to compete the private sector in food sothat they could provide quality food to people at the competitive prices.
The minister praised the new administrative team of the Railways, includingthe chairman/secretary, the CEO and new chief of the Railways Police, andhoped that the new team would speed up the Railways revival.
He announced a shuttle train between Lahore and Wahga from December 14 tofacilitate Indian and Pakistani passengers.
The minister said that the Pakistan Railways had become the only railwaysin the world which was earning profit from passengers as mainly railwaysearned profit from freight. “The Pakistan Railways is facilitating 70million passengers in a year which shows trust of the people in the PR,” hesaid.
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He vowed that deficit of the railways would finish in three years, addingthat train punctuality had been 90 per cent so far which would be improvedin a few days.
He said that not a single penny had been spent on purchasing during thecurrent period while the railways was earning profit with efforts of thecurrent regime.
He said the ML-1 was a milestone in the national history which would play avital role in the economy as well.
To a question, he said heirs of the Tezgam Express incident would be givenRs2.1 million each as Rs 1.5 million of insurance, Rs 0.5 million from thePrime Minister Fund and Rs100,000 each from the minister’s fund will begiven.
