*Pakistan Railways to charge 2-way fare, detention charges from PPP to operate special trains for October 18 rally
Pakistan Railways (PR) will charge two-way fare and detention charges from Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) for special trains to be operated for the party’s public gathering to be held in Karachi, said PR General Manager Operations Javaid Anwar Boobak on Saturday.
He said the performance of PR was being improved day by day. Sixteen special trains instead of 14 would be run on next Eid to facilitate the people, he announced.
He said the PR earned Rs 6.33 billion from July 1 to September 30 this year, which was 21.8 percent more than the same period of last year. The PR, he said, earned 1.3 percent more than the given target in budget by the government.
He said the PR loaded 32,830 freight wagons during the current year so far while the number of wagons loaded during the previous year was 14,893, which showed improvement in performance.
To a question, the Railways GM said the Business Express train was defaulter of more than Rs 1 billion but the PR was unable to close the project as cases in this regard were in the courts and hoped the courts would provide justice.
To another question about gutting of 25 boggies, he said a comprehensive investigation report would be prepared by October 13 and the PR had got the support of experts of the Punjab Forensic Laboratories.
Regarding complaints about misconduct by public dealing staff, he said the PR administration was planning to introduce refresher courses for the staff.
To a question about the speed of trains run on Lahore-Narowal section, the GM said track situation was poor at the section so trains were being operated on 30 km per hour.
The rehabilitation of track, he said, was possible only if sufficient funds were available.