Negligence shown by the authorities of Railways, which is already passing through the severe crisis, has created a dilemma for the Islamabad Railway Station.
The station, developed decades ago, was briefly used in 1979 for a shuttle service between Rawalpindi and Islamabad, mainly for the workers of the industrial units in the surrounding areas. Later, former premier Benazir Bhutto launched the first public train from the station, although the service proved to be very short-lived.
Nowadays, the station has only one train “Islamabad Express” which is not enough to cater to the traveling needs of the residents of the capital, with a population of more than 1.8 million, forcing the residents to rely on the Rawalpindi. However, the high fares of taxis for reaching the station in the garrison city forced majority of the passengers to use public transport.
“The fare of taxi from my house to the Rawalpindi Railway Station is Rs 300 while the fare of van from Faizabad to Gujranwala is Rs 260,” said Hussain Ali, a passenger, adding, “Why should I use train given the huge expenses.”
“If the government wants to bring the railway out of the crisis, it should establish proper stations in the country, including the federal capital.” Senior citizens, while talking to Pakistan Today, said no government tried to promote railway in the federal capital, as a result of which, the people also did not pay attention to use trains for travelling.
In 2010, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani launched a tourism train from the station but it also failed to get attention of tourists. During the tenure of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, he used that train as a saloon but the current PM handed over it to the Tourism Ministry for promoting the neglected sector, but the officials concerned are unable in attracting the people towards the initiative.
That is why, the Tourism Ministry handed over the train to the Pakistan Railways after some time. The only reminder of the tourism train is a plaque inscribed with the name of Prime Minister Gilani on the railway station. In past, the government also floated a proposal to start the freight service from Islamabad to Turkey for trade purposes, but the dream is yet to be materialised.
The residents of Islamabad are of the view that if the government had paid attention towards launching more public trains from the terminal, situation would have been quite different. “Stakeholders always tried to launch tourism and trading trains from the station but didn’t bother to facilitate passengers by introducing public trains,” said Ahmad Ali, a local.
Major universities of the capital are situated near the station; therefore, it has become a cafeteria for the students. “In every break time, we go there to take some snacks and cold drinks. It is a peaceful place and might be the only station without rush of passengers,” joked Danish Raza, a student of NUML. He said proper train service would also help facilitating the students.
In addition, the station has a staff of three, including a station master and two junior staffers. The post of ticket distributor has been lying vacant since long and the station master is also working as a ticket distributor, while the Engineering Department of the Railway Ministry is in ‘no hurry’ to cut the wild weeds from the premises, which is now covering a vast area.
Talking to Pakistan Today, Station Master Sardar Zareer Mahmood said they were facing a plethora of problems, adding that the high-ups were mulling to upgrade the station. He informed Pakistan Today that the total number of reservation seats for Islamabad was 26 but they tried their best to adjust more people.
