Islamabad Express launched from Margalla Station

[Naveed Yaseen]

Shuttle service between twin cities ‘to start soon’

Saeed Ahmed
Federal Minister for Railways Ghulam Ahmed Bilour formally launched the Islamabad Express at the Margalla Railway Station here on Wednesday.

Talking to journalists after launching the train service by cutting a ribbon, the railway minister announced that a shuttle service between Islamabad and Rawalpindi will be launched soon to facilitate local passengers. “The shuttle service will run between Rawalpindi and Islamabad twice a day. It will help in reducing the hardships of the local people who suffer due to shortage of a proper transport system in the twin cities.”

The Islamabad Express will run daily from Islamabad to Lahore and it will take 4 hours to reach its destination.

The train from Lahore to the Margalla Railway Station was running on trial basis since April 24.

The minister said that the train service from Islamabad to Lahore will be expanded if the Islamabad Express shows some success.

Responding to a query, Ghulam Ahmed Bilour announced that after one month, i.e. in June, the Pakistan Railways will start direct train service from Islamabad to Karachi.

Responding to a question regarding measures being taken by the government for covering up the Pakistan Railways losses of Rs70 billion, the minister said that effective measures are being taken, which would be implemented in a few months.

When ‘The News’ asked that the government was facing resistance from the encroachment mafia, Bilour made it clear that no tolerance in this regard would be tolerated. “The railway department has successfully carried out effective operations and got evacuated its land in different parts of the country. Now tenders have been floated in the press for land auctioning. The railways would auction the vacated land and private firms would construct commercial buildings to generate revenue to cover up the losses.”

To a question about an agreement with a Chinese firm by the former federal minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed to run trains from Gwadar, Bilour stated that the project is quite expensive to implement. However it could be considered in future.

http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=177532