Federal Minister for Pakistan Railways, Mehtab Ahmad Khan Abbasi, has ordered Operation General Manager, Asad Saeed, to finish unnecessary stopovers to make the service of Badar Express non-stop and fast between Lahore and Shore-court.
The decision was taken on Tuesday during department meeting, held at the railway headquarters, by following a string of complaints by passengers and considering sharp decrease of revenue.
Former rail minister, Sheikh Rashid Ahmad's order has come after political pressure by many members of the National Assembly (MNA) to end various unauthorised stopovers of Badar Express. By this decision train will now stop in Sheikupura, Safdarabad and the Sangla-Hill Rail junction, and seven unnecessary stops will be ended and the train will resume its fast service between Faisalabad and Shore-court - as it did in the past.
Former MNA Shamim Haider belonging to the Sheikupura constituency had urged the former minister to allow for unauthorised and unnecessary stops. The Badar Express takes three hours to reach Faisalabad from Lahore instead of two, hence, due to wasting of time the Express has lost its importance. The problem has further aggravated when rail officials complained of a sharp decrease in the revenue, generated by the Express, because of time wasting.