Pakistan Railways to halt Lahore-Wagah shuttle train service

LAHORE: Two months after restoring the Lahore-Wagah shuttle train service, the Pakistan Railways on Saturday announced to shut the service owing lack of passengers, ARY News reported.

“The Pakistan Railways has decided to shut  Lahore-Wagah and Lahore-Raiwind shuttle trains after they failed to achieve the set target,” said railways spokesperson.

The Lahore-Wagah train service was restored after 22 years last year in December. Similarly, the Lahore-Raiwand train service was launched this year in January.

Earlier in the day, Railways Minister Sheikh Rasheed promised to make Pakistan Railways, a profitable organisation in five years.

Addressing a press conference in Lahore, Sheikh Rasheed said loses of PR are decreasing and it will be transformed into a profit-making one. He said majority of coaches are outdated and added that China is going to renovate 75 per cent of the PR coaches.

Showing grief over the Rohri train accident, Sheikh Rasheed held driver of the passenger bus responsible for the tragic mishap. “The bus driver tried to take shortcut by crossing the railway crossing rather than adopting route of flyover.”

Read more: At least 19 dead, dozens wounded as train hits passenger coach in Sukkur

The railways minister said ML-1 agreement will be signed on May 10, which will be helpful in ending all railway crossings from Karachi to Peshawar. He announced 10 per cent reduction on the tickets of Business Class AC and AC Standard coaches for two months, effective from March 2.