Bilour calls for investment in Railways

ISLAMABAD (APP) - Federal Minister for Railways, Haji Ghulam Ahmed Bilour on Friday said that Pakistan Railways needs investment to exploit its full potential and make it an efficient and profitable organization for the prosperity of the country.
He stated addressing a press conference here, said the main problem being faced by the Railways ministry is shortage of locomotives.
The Minister said that to overcome this problem it is essential to encourage the investor to improve the Railways transportation in the country.
He maintained that, unfortunately the ministry is facing different problems, particularly lack of funds to improve the railway system.
Bilour said that above 2382 unmanned crossings have been established by the people on their own putting risk to their lives while crossing the railway track.
This attitude of the people is also creating problems for the Railway authorities, he remarked. He clarified that children who were killed on the crossing point was the mistake of the van driver who crossed the track and was hit by the train , causing death of students. The driver of the van has also accepted the mistake, he remarked.
He said that the Ministry of Railways is in contact which JICA, Asian Development Bank and World Bank, adding that talks are in progress for repairing tracks and bridges.
' He said that ADB has also shown interest in the up-gradation of Railway transportation in the country. He said the ministry is also ready to privatizate different departments of Railways including ticketing for improving efficiency and service delivery.
The Minister said Pakistan Railways is operating on aging engines and these need repair or replacement adding the existing outdated tracks also need to be doubled to make railway journey more safe.
He said that if we start by improving 30 engines, we can improve the system.
Bilour said in 1992 the Railway ministry exported 300 wagons to Bangladesh and now we are importing them.
He said that once the railway was well established department in the country but today it is facing a lot of challenges.
He said that encroached railway land still pending and he want to resolve this issue in consultation with the encroachers.