KARACHI: For the first time ever a dedicated freight train laden with 75 cargo containers originated its journey from Karachi’s Cantonment Railway Station to Lahore.
This freight train is inaugurated under public-private joint venture, with a predictable journey time of almost 48 hours.
Federal Minister for Railways Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed stated at the inauguration ceremony that he is confident about the devoted and standard freight train service for cargo transportation.
He also briefed that there is planning for launching of two more dedicated freight daily trains for the containers from Karachi to Lahore from 25th January 2019. Also, he proclaimed that soon there will be an introduction of freight trains from Karachi to Faisalabad and Sialkot.
Furthermore, he also explained that non-container trains for various supplementary cargoes would also be launched so as to assist country’s ports to function professionally, since speedy movement of cargoes from port areas helps to diminish redundant overcrowding.
Sheikh Rasheed stated at the ceremony, “Unfortunately, when I took over the Pakistan Railways after a time period of almost 14 years, I did not observe any transformation at all, also there was a loss of Rs5 billion with enormous salary bill of Rs30bn, gigantic fuel oil bill of Rs18bn and loans of almost Rs25bn.”
He also explained that committed and planned cargo train services will assist in lessening cost of doing business, recovering of global competitiveness and diminishing of pollution.
Moreover, while emphasizing on the financial viability of the freight service, the minister stated that Pakistan Railways would earn Rs3.5bn annually from this service while launching three additional daily freight trains would augment the Pakistan Railways’ annual revenue by almost 14bn.
Sheikh Rasheed said that almost two months ago he had meeting with Aasim Siddiqui, the Managing Director of Marine Group of Companies and complete idea of private-public partnership just came up, due to which the service has been launched today.
The minister also provided detailed schedule related to development of the PR, according to which Karachi-Peshawar double railway track or ML-1 will be developed, however, currently an exploration is being done for the investment including Chinese, built-operate-transfer and joint venture. However, the final decision is based upon Prime Minister Imran Khan expected before March 23, 2019.
The minister also added that there is massive demand as the passenger traffic is augmenting on regular basis; however, due to scarcity of assets at Pakistan Railways, for the time being the demand cannot be pleased at the on hand infrastructure. He apologized for the disappointment of Dhabeji train service and grieve upon that Sukkur Express is already over loaded as passengers have to travel over roof top.
Sheikh Rasheed guaranteed to bring the over loaded trains to normal occupancy by additional trains & improvisation of existing and new tracks.
The minister declared that he would likely promote the scales of all railway workers once all the financial restrictions of Pakistan Railways are condensed.
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