LAHORE: Phrasing the current year as 'Railways' revival year,' Federal Railways Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmad assured that no worker will be sacked and "we will provide employment to more than one lac people soon in the various sections of railways."

While addressing a press conference here on Saturday at Railways headquarters, the minister said negligence of the coaster driver was the main cause of train accident near Farooqabad in which about 20 people killed on Friday according to the investigations.

Rashid said the coaster driver tried to cross the railway track from an unmanned level crossing avoiding a gate crossing which was closed due to the train arrival.

The minister said after the project of Mainline-1 (ML-1) the track would be more protected, adding that the file work on the ML-1 project was speedily in progress and it would be started soon.

The minister announced that fares would not be increased adding that he had already rejected such suggestion and burden of fuel prices would not be shifted to the passengers.

He thanked Prime Minister Imran Khan and Chief of the Army Staff Qamar Javed Bajwa for their special interest in the ML-1 project.

He said the Railways was operating trains with 60 percent occupancy and bearing loss but it was providing facility to the masses across the country.

The minister blamed previous rulers for looting the Railways and taking kickbacks in different purchases, adding that the railway was sending corruption cases of the previous regimes to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).

To a question, he said all concessions to the elderly people in the trains would remain intact and they could enjoy these concessions in all trains.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020