Sheikh Rasheed to inaugurate new freight train in Karachi tomorrow

KARACHI: Federal Minister for Railways, Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed, will arrive in Karachi tonight (Thursday) to inaugurate new freight trais, ARY News reported.

The freight train, built with a public-private partnership, will be inaugurated on Friday morning. The new train will operate on daily basis from Karachi.

Earlier, Pakistan’s first cargo train service under public-private partnership was launched on December 25, 2018.

On Jan 19, Rasheed had said that a freight train was going to be launched this month to facilitate the business community and earn more revenue. He said that reconstruction and renovation of seven major railway stations will also be carried out.

He said that all measures are being taken to raise Railways’ income while remaining within our own resources.

He said that Pakistan Railways had over 400 acres of land available in Multan and some other districts in the region. Businessmen should get it on lease for setting up plant nurseries to promote initiative of green Pakistan.

He said the businessmen should play an effective role for progress and prosperity of the country.

He said that Pakistan Railways was going to install 300 trackers in the trains within 15 days to enable the people to track the trains’ position during travelling through the internet. He said that the GPS trackers had been provided to the railways by a local engineer.

Rasheed said that Pakistan Railways had set target of running 20 freight trains in the country for the facilitation of business community. He urged businessmen to run freight trains and pay rent to Pakistan Railways for utilization of services.