Federal Minister for Railway Khawaja Saad Rafique has said that Pakistan Railways (PR) needs $20-25 billion to make it as per international standard. "We are running with 150 years old railways system," said the minister while talking to media persons after inaugurating Golra Railway Museum/Pakistan Railways Heritage Museum here on Friday.
The minister said that they have been declared thieves as a party which must be investigated but the name of those complainants who accused them should also be made public.
Losses and corruption are two different things. If those sections incurring losses are closed, Railway's losses could be reduced by 50 percent, he added.
The revamp of Golra Museum was started in the Hall 2 on the directions of the federal minister for railway, who wanted to launch other railway museums in Lahore, Karachi, Quetta and Islamabad under the Directorate of Railway Heritage.
Golra Sharif Railway Museum or Pakistan Railways Heritage Museum is located near sector E-11, Islamabad. The station had been established in 1882 during British rule and upgraded as junction in 1912. It was the logistics artery of British India during the Afghan military campaigns at the turn of the 20th century. It has since become an imperative trade route which juts into Afghanistan.
In the purlieu of Golra Railway Station, museum was established in 2003 with an aim of preserving and maintaining more than 150 years of rail heritage in this region and displaying in befitting manners for the visitors. Museum consists of two main galleries. The first gallery displays the objects from 1881 of North Western Railways' time to present.
Visiting the galleria give acumen into the whole operating system of railways ie signals, meters, mode of communication, emergency equipment, archival photographs, coaches with steam engines, models and other items which are now and then part and parcel under the current railway system. In second gallery, a Victorian furniture used in waiting halls with classic crockery, piano and long-arm rest chairs, self-style mirrors and other fixture and fittings including typical ceiling fan which had been used for fresh air in the past.
Along with these colonnades, steam and diesel locomotives, historical coaches in narrow and broad gauge are on displayed in the museum. Vintage saloons are also part of this museum. A saloon was the part of the fleet of last Viceroy of India Lord Mount Batten. It is significant, as it had hosted Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah in his travel from Karachi to Lahore. It has a beautiful interior made of teak wood. This saloon demonstrates the glimpse of Pakistan Railways. A royal saloon given by Maharaja of Indian State of Jodhpur as a bridal gift to her daughter is also present there. It had been made in Ajmer Sharif Carriage Workshop in 1888. A German postal coach made in 1914, is on display which is a landmark source of distribution of postal service in the past.
Apart from museum, this railway station is currently among working railway stations. One could reach Golra Museum from Rawalpindi through train.