Islamabad / Lahore:
The Standing Committee of the National Assembly on Railways was informed Tuesday that a delegation of Chinese experts would realize Pakistan at the end of February and the financial plan for the main line project (ML-1) would be finalized. Then, the work on this project will be launched immediately after the auctions.
The secretary, ministry of railways, provided details on the proposed railway line of 1,726 kilometers from Peshawar to Karachi, with a total cost estimated at $ 6.8 billion.
Currently, 34 trains operate on the route and once the ML-1 is finished, 120 trains should operate. The project will be implemented in two phases – the first phase of Karachi in Multan and phase two from Multan to Peshawar – with a Chinese delegation planned to visit Pakistan in late February.
In addition, the secretary noted that the railways had 83 rest houses, 10 of which have broken down. According to the chairman of the committee, Rai Hassan Nawaz Khan, the rest houses in Lahore are used by Karachi officers, and those who stay in these facilities often pay for their own pockets.
The committee member, Syed Wasim Hussain, stressed that the questions should only be raised during the agenda, saying: “There is no advantage in questioning after the end of the agenda”.
He also added that the agenda should include points of all members of the committee, noting that “having two or three points of a single individual on the agenda is excessive”.
Meanwhile, the secretary announced that “13 trains have been outsourced”, a decision that improved the quality of services, the income from outsourced trains from 7 billion rupees to Rs11 billion. “Until seven days payment is made, we do not run the train.”
Fairs
An increase in the prices of petroleum products hit the train passengers hard, as Pakistan railways have once again increased passenger trains by 5%.
According to a notification issued by the rail authorities, the increase in prices will take effect from February 5. The increase applies to all ticket classes, as well as the show services and extends to all outsourced trains.
The notification was also sent to all operational chiefs (divisional superintendents) of the divisions of Lahore, Karachi, Sukkur, Multan, Rawalpindi, Peshawar and Quetta for information and implementation.
He also ordered the IT Director of Public Relations to guarantee the implementation of the prior reservation and asks the DSS to apply the table of rates updated in all stations and booking offices.
“To guarantee smooth compliance, all booking and booking offices, as well as station staff, are requested to immediately adopt these updated prices. All the differences noted by the staff of the station / commercial must Be reported to the office of the chief marketing director and IT director through IT through the IT the Divisional Commercial Officer concerned (DCO) within seven days.
Upgrades and ML-1 plans
The permanent committee of the National Assembly on the railways has deliberated on the modernization of railways.
The whole world increasingly embracing electronic rail systems, the railway secretary has announced that a new “contact application” had been developed. This application will allow passengers to reserve seats and access additional information on travel, and when they asked them about development cost, the secretary said that “no expense was engaged”.
Plans are underway to link all coaches with the contact application within five to six months. In a wink to the past, the managers of the railways recalled that an electric train service had been launched in 1979 between Lahore and Khanewal on a 286 -kilometer track. However, after stopping the electrical train system, wires and posts were said to have been stolen.
