Railway is progressing by leaps and bounds -Sheikh Rashid

MULTAN,Jan 20th: Minister for Railway Sheikh Rashid Ahmed has announced to give freight train for Multan and restoration of Thal express from February 28 to facilitate the people of Multan on the request of Khawaja Jalaluddin roomi and said that Train speed  be increased to 260 Km/hour gradually. Addressing the member of Chamber of Commerce and Industry Multan, Dera Ghazi Khan, Rahimyarkhan, Multan Industrial Estate and Multan Dryport Trust in Multan Chamber chaired by Muhammad Sarfraz President of MCCI while Khawaja Jalaluddin Roomi Ex-President of MCCI and Chairman of MDPT,Mian Tanvir A Sheikh Ex-President of FPCCI, Khawaja Muhammad Younas President of DGCCI,Khawaja Badar Munir SVP, M.Anis Khawaja of APTMA were guests of honour.Sheikh Rashid also announced to give Railway sports ground to local industrialists to make it a recreational park and provision of a freight Train against Rs 2.3 million per month.He assured to reintroduce the Shah Rukn-i-Alam Train after availability of coaches.He said that coaches of Zikiriya Express also be replaced with new ones. He announced to introduce the new timings of the train to connect each to facilitate the passengers of Karachi. He disclosed that Rehman Baba express was earning more than other trains and its load is 144 % Similarly load of MoenjoDaro express is 200%.He disclosed that a new freight container train from Karachi had been introduced from December 25 and PRFTC had been given a task to operate three such trains before March 23, 2019.

Railways Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmad has said that Railways is going to install 300 trackers in trains within 15 days to enable the people track trains' position and movement during travelling through internet.He said that trackers had been provided to the railways by a local engineer who is a son of a Railway Guard. He said the railways control-room in the headquarters was also being modernised so that railway staff could see the position of the train, and take step in rescuing train and passengers timely in case of any emergency. He claimed that a modern tracking system in his department that will help reduce journey between Lahore and Rawalpindi.He said that ticketless travelling was being discouraged and we have recovered Rs.60 million from ticketless passengers in a month.The minister said that hand devices would be provided to the trains' special ticket examiners (STEs) to curb ticket dodgers. The Minister disclosed to run a VVIP train to facilitate the traders, industrialists,exporters,foreigners. He said that administrations of some five stars hotel also contacted the railways for running a train, however, the investment committee would decide about it.The minister said that the railways was also providing facility of transportation to the fertilizer manufacturer and now fertilizers would be transported by rail.

The Minister said that a complaint Cell was being developed in Islamabad which would entertain all complaints besides providing informations about trains. He said that

 I wish to start a fast train one from Rawalpindi to Multan via Muzaffargarh,Kotadu,Kundian  and then Karachi. New Train on Multan-Dera Ghazi Khan route would start as soon as we have railway coaches available," Rashid said.

The railways minister also vowed to solve problems for disabled and elderly members of the community and said that they would start by adding elevators and escalators to railway stations for their ease.

The railways minister announced that eight dry ports and 32 railway stations were being upgraded. "We do not have the money to do this ourselves, thus we are inviting private companies to help us. No railway [company] can survive without freight [trains] and neither can we," he explained while putting forward his plans for Pakistan Railways.

"Again, private investors can take these stations from us, we know that private companies and individuals have no lack of resources in this country and we would like to use this to our advantage," Rashid added.

He said the Pakistan Railways (PR) was making efforts to increase the number of passengers from 50 million to 70 million and freight trains from eight to twelve. Prime Minister Imran Khan would chair a committee meeting to take important decisions regarding the railways, he added.

He said the Pakistan Railways owned 15 oil depots to fuel its engines with an annual expenditure of Rs 14 billion, which would be enhanced to Rs 18 billion. The current management, however, had decided to carry out an immediate audit of all the oil depots and the Pakistan Railways would hopefully be able to save Rs 1 to 2 billion. He said that Pakistan Railway was spending RS.35 billion on 1,50,000 pensioners and our salary bill is  Rs.31 billion per annum.He said that Armed forces and railway were on same page in the context of pensioners. In his welcome address MCCI President Muhammad Sarfraz said that running time of Mehr express be reduced from 16 hours besides providing AC-Sleeper and sleeper coaches  in this train to make the journey comfortable. Thal express be reintroduced on Multan Rawalpindi section via Kundian. Night coches and fast trains must be rerouted via Multan. Timing of Lahore bound trains be changed .He thanked the Minister on the behalf of business community to run Multan Faisalabad train.Shah Rukn-i-Alam train be reintroduced, Bogies of Zikiriya express must be changed by modern ones. Quota in all trains be fixed for business community. and inquiry system must be improved.

Chairman of Multan Dry port Trust (MDPT) and President of Multan Industrial Estate Management Board Khawaja Jalaluddin Roomi stressed the need for construction of overhead bridge or underpass at Nadirabad level crossing, introduction of freight train for Multan's business community. Khawaja Muhammad Yousaf, President of RahimyarKhan Chamber, Ex-Vice President of MCCI Khawaja Muhammad Farooq also spoke. Muhammad Aftab Akbar,Chief Executive Officer/Senior General Manager Railway, Amir Muhammad Daudpota Divisional Superintendent,Deputy DS Saima Bashir,DCO Nadeela Aslam,DTO Tahir Masud Marwat and other officers were accompanied by the Minister.The Event was conducted Secretary General of MCCI Khurram Javed Butt.