Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Railways has rehabilitated six railway stations at the cost of Rs 24.99 million under the project of `Rehabilitation of Assets Damaged during floods 2010′ to ensure smooth train operation and passenger facilitation.

An official in the Ministry of Railways said that the railway stations included in the project are Kot Addu, Gurmani, Taunsa, Sultankot, Dil Murad and Budha Pur. He said that the rehabilitation work of two other railway stations, Zero Point (Mirpur Khas-Khokrapar) and Sibi, was also in progress, with a cost of Rs 14.26 million. In fact the progress of these works remained very slow in the initial years but had accelerated through allocation of adequate funds during last three years, he added.

He said that Pakistan Railways has also planned the up gradation of 16 major railway stations under various Public Sector Development Program (PSDP) projects including Karachi Cantt, Karachi City, Hyderabad, Sukkur, Quetta, Bahawalpur, Raiwind, Lahore, Gujranwala, Rawalpindi, Peshawar, Okara, Sahiwal, Narowal, Nankana Sahib and Hassanabdal. “The work on Narowal, Okara and Sahiwal stations had been started while architectural and structural drawings of the remaining stations are under finalisation,” he added.

The official said that Pakistan Railways has also selected another 31 stations for improvement during next two years. The funds for the project will be allocated during next financial year. He said that 12 stations have been selected for up gradation keeping in view their strategic importance from operational point of view, the current condition of structures and passenger amenities, and their heritage value, importance of station with respect to future potential for passenger traffic and availability of surplus land for integrated commercial development.

The Raiwind railway station had been selected for up gradation keeping in view its importance due to frequent visits by large number of people to Tablighi Markaz from all over the world, he added. He also said that three railways stations, Narowal, Hassanabdal and Nankana Sahib were selected for provision of better facilities to Sikh Yatries and to promote international religious tourism.