Pakistan Railways (PR) minister Khawaja Saad Rafique informed the national assembly today that a major portion of PR’s land is illegally occupied.
He highlighted that 9986 acres of railway land is occupied across the country. Rafique gave the following breakup of the collective figure:
- 3,287 acres of railway land is occupied in Punjab.
- 832 acres are occupied in Khyber Pukhtunkhwa (KP).
- 5,180 acres are occupied in Sindh.
- 687 acres are occupied in Balochistan.
The assembly members expressed their concern regarding the matter and asked for a solution. PR minister stated that the department is currently working to address this issue.
Resumption of Three New Trains
PR announced a few days ago that three Karachi-bound express trains will resume service on October 20, 2022.
In this regard, the railway minister presided over a meeting and made the decision to restart the express trains, which include the Millat Express, Allama Iqbal Express, and Sukkur Express. Rafique and the meeting attendees were also pleased with the trains’ occupancy rate, timeliness, and cleanliness.
Previously, PR had suspended operations in Karachi due to damaged tracks, despite having announced plans to resume operations in the city.
It issued a notification stating that operations in Karachi would be suspended immediately from 4 to 20 October, with additional instructions to suspend ticket reservations for trains departing on 5 October.
That’s about 40 square kilometres. An area more than some cities of Pakistan.