Federal Minister for Railways, Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed said on Saturday that the new Rahman Baba Express train between Peshawar to Karachi will be formally launched for low income passengers today. Speaking to media persons after attending a meeting at PR divisional office here, the Minister said Rahman Baba Express fares will be very low and affordable. He said the new train will reduce the railroad travel duration between Peshawar and Karachi by 7-9 hours.
Rahman Baba Express, named after late prominent Pashto poet 'Abdul Rahman' commonly known as Rahman Baba will have ten economic class coaches, brake van and one power plant. The Minister said he will himself monitor operations of the Rahman Baba express and other trains. He said the train will run separate route to facilitate the masses. He said that steps were being taken to improve the standard of Pakistan Railways and to provide maximum relief to the people.
He disclosed that about 20 new trains will be launched in next year. He added that PR has planned to also start three tourists and business trains in future. He said the freight trains will also increase from 10 to 15 to revive and reduce the Pakistan Railways losses.
The Minister said the first agreement under the strategic ML-I Project, to lay new track from Peshawar to Karachi, will be signed by March next year. He said the entire tracks infrastructure will be changed in the whole country.
Sheikh Rasheed said that the incumbent Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government inherited an economy on the brink of collapse from Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), with massive debts, totalling of Rs300billion. He said that the country will get progress with development of Pakistan Railways. He said the railway tracks built in British era has reduced instead of bringing any improvement.
Railways Minister Sheikh Rashid raised objections on Shahbaz Sharif's appointment as the Chairman of Public Accounts Committee (PAC) saying that the move has not sent a good message among the public. Responding to a question, the minister said that he had opposed the appointment of Shahbaz Sharif as chairman of Public Accounts Committee (PAC). He said that if Shahbaz Sharif is honest, then there is no dishonest person in the PML-N.
He said the poor people only held guilty, while politicians were admitted in hospitals. He said there is no precedent of issuing production orders during remand. He said Prime Minister Imran Khan is straight and simple politician.