LAHORE: Railways Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmad on Saturday said that railways deficit would be completely wiped within three years instead of the supposed target of five years.
Addressing to the media here at the railway headquarters, he said that Pakistan Railways earned more than Rs 10 billion last year which was a record in the world of railways.
The meeting was briefed on the punctuality of passenger trains, technical obstacles on the railway track and locomotive failure incidents during last one month. He directed concerned officers for the elimination of technical obstacles on railway tracks and redress causes of locomotive failure.
The meeting also reviewed various steps to make loss-incurring trains profitable and reviewed freight revenue during the last one month.
The minister expressed satisfaction over the successful agreement with China for the upgradation of Main Line-1 (ML-1) under the leadership of Prime Minister Imran Khan, adding that it was a dream which had become now a reality.
He disclosed that more than 100,000 vacancies would be generated through the ML-1 upgradation, adding that swift facility will be provided to passengers on ML-I and ML-2.
He said the Railways would recruit new employees from the previous 1.2 million applications, thus no new advertisement would be published.
He said four bogies of economy class will be attached with Jinnah express from October 15, and economy class fare will also be reduced in the train.
