Govt Taking Steps to Upgrade Railways, Says Hanif Abbasi

Railways Minister Hanif Abbasi said on Sunday spelled out the steps his ministry was taking to improve the Pakistan Railways.

Addressing a meet the press event at the Lahore Press Club, Abbasi said that cleanliness at seven railway stations has been outsourced so far. This includes three railway stations in Rawalpindi and two railway stations in Karachi and Lahore each. He said that he improved the quality of food for the railway passengers. He said that his ministry was going to outsource six railway schools as part of efforts to improve the standard of education. He said that Pakistan’s economy cannot make an improvement until and unless an investment is made in the Pakistan Railways.

The railways minister said that Rohri-Karachi is the main artery of the Pakistan Railways and an agreement would be singed on artery soon. He said he was thankful to Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz who took a practical step to improve the Lahore-Rawalpindi track so that travel time between the two Punjab cities can be decreased to two or two-and-a-half hours. He said that Maryam Nawaz had allocated Rs50 billion for the Pakistan Railways. He said that a free wi-fi has been installed at the Lahore Railway Station.

Referring to the Balochistan capital, Abbasi said that a DW should be run in order to make Quetta city beautiful. He said that a 105km track will be completed by April 30 to transport coal to coal power plants. He said that power tariff will decrease from Rs15 per unit to Rs4.5 per unit once power supply from the coal power plants begins.