FAISALABAD:Pakistan Railways (PR) should revisit its strategy to run maximum fast passenger and cargo trains from main stations proportionate to its available load in order to make it a profitable entity.
This was stressed by Faisalabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry (FCCI) President Atif Munir Sheikh here on Friday. A Railways technical team visited the FCCI to discuss the travel and transportation problems, being faced by the business community of Faisalabad currently.
Highlighting the Railways importance, Atif Sheikh said that trains are still one of the most secure, safe, cheap, speedy and reliable means of communication, but the department had failed to fully exploit its potential. He underlined the importance of Faisalabad and said that thousands of people travel through trains while a huge quantity of cargo is also transported to and from different cities including the port city of Karachi.
He said that Railways should run all trains with a speed of 120-kilometre per hour and it should be gradually enhanced with improvement in its track and carriages. He demanded that the job must be completed before linking Faisalabad with ML1. He also pointed out that daily thousands of people come to Faisalabad to work in different industrial and commercial entities from its suburbs. He said that the department must start a passenger train for the working class so that they could reach their workplace without any hassle.
He also demanded revival of Faisalabad-Quetta and non-stop trains between Faisalabad and Karachi. He pointed out immediate up-gradation of Faisalabad railway station and solution to parking-related problems. He said Railways should revive its hospital in Faisalabad to facilitate its employees in addition to utilising its potential for the private patients under the health card scheme.
Railways Chief Traffic Manager Jamshed Alam said that he was visiting Faisalabad on a special directive of Federal Minister Azam Khan Swati to solve business community problems on immediate basis. He promised that the local problems would be solved instantly while the remaining issues would be submitted to the federal minister along with necessary recommendations.
Chief Engineer Iftikhar Ali, Faisalabad Assistant Operating Officer Salman Khalid, Faisalabad Dry Port Trust Chairman Muzammil Sultan, FCCI Vice President Rana Fayyaz Ahmad and FCCI Standing Committee on Railways Chairman Mirza Hidayatullah also participated in the meeting.