The Senate’s Standing Committee on Railways was informed on Wednesday that the performance of Pakistan Railways would be improved within a year as it would soon get around 200 new engines.
The committee met under the chairmanship of Abdul Ghafoor Haideri. Railways Secretary Arif Azeem informed the committee that PR has 465 engines and of them only 185 were in functional position.
He said around 80 percent trains reached their respective stations on time due to steps taken by the current management.
Most of the spare parts of the railways were being manufactured in the country; however, it was not possible to manufacture whole spare parts within the country, he added.
The body was informed that the issue of the shortage of fuel with railways had been resolved with the Pakistan State Oil.
Regarding encroachment on railways land, he said, thousands of acres of land has been restored from illegal occupants.
He said that PR earned around Rs 588 million through lease of land to various departments. The chairman directed the PR to furnish report regarding housing societies in Karachi.
The meeting was also attended by Senator Maula Bakhsh Chandio, Senator Mukhtar Ahmed Dhamrah, Senator Kamil Agha and Senator Hamza and officials of Pakistan Railways.