PR’s deficit reduced from Rs36bn to Rs32bn in ten months: minister

RAWALPINDI: Railways Minister Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed said on Wednesday that Pakistan Railway’s deficit had been reduced from Rs36 billion to Rs32 billion in the last ten months, vowing to end all the losses within the next five years.

Speaking at the inauguration ceremony of Sir

Syed Express, he said efforts were being made to make Pakistan railways a
profitable entity while the number of freight trains would also be increased.

He said the number of railways passengers has

grown to over six million during the last nine months and “our target for the
next year is ten million passengers”.

The minister said that the non-functional track

of Pakistan Railways in Sindh has been restored.

The minister said the ML1 project, under which

a new railway track would be laid from Peshawar to Karachi, was his old dream
and its completion would boost the performance of Pakistan Railways.

He said after its approval from the Executive

Committee of National Economic Council (ECNEC), the project would be
inaugurated from the four provinces this month.

Sheikh Rashid said after completion of ML-I

project, the travelling time between Rawalpindi to Karachi would be reduced to
just ten hours.

He said a new command and control system was

being set up for timely arrival and departure of trains, while WiFi facilities
at all railways stations were being provided.

The minister thanked the prime minister for

allocating Rs1.5 billion for Mother and Child Hospital in Rawalpindi under the Public
Sector Development Programme (PSDP).