Islamabad: CDA unveils plan to run train at Lake View Park

[Naveed Yaseen]

Myra Imran
Adding another new feature to entertain visitors at the Lake View Park, the Capital Development Authority (CDA) has unveiled a plan of running a train in the area that would be a 30-minute ride.

The beautifully coloured trains, imported from Italy, will run on a special track that is under construction. Although the train service is already operational, at the moment it operates only from the parking lot to the lakeside and back, a fairly short distance.

Train driver Sadaqat Khan told ‘The News’ that visitors were keen on having a ride even now but once the track and the station were completed it would prove to be a big hit. The tickets for these branded trains that will run on wheels are to be priced at Rs25. The seats are spacious and comfortable whereas the train’s last bogey has been especially designed for disabled persons to embark easily.

CDA Project Management Office Director Faisal Awan said that once the track was ready, a single trip would take about 35 to 40 minutes with the train passing through fun places created around the lake. “It will also stop along the way and those on board will be free to disembark wherever they want or continue their journey,” he said.

Awan said that once the Lake View Park was completed, the trains’ track would also weave its way through the entertainment zone and the timing would increase up to two hours. “To start up with, the train will cover an area of two kilometres,” he said, adding the Punjab government was also taking interest in buying such trains for picnic spots.

The CDA officials claimed that park would eventually become the hub of Islamabad’s entertainment in less than two years. About 100 acres of area has been upgraded and development on another 100 more is in progress.

As work continues on the entertainment zone, the lake’s periphery already looks quite impressive. The transformation of the place from its old look to new has begun to attract visitors in numbers and has become a truly public facility. The park fills up especially on weekends when people along with their families tend to spend considerable time here.

http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=131900