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.
The railway stations included Kot Addu, Gurmani, Taunsa, Sultankot, Dil Murad and Budha Pur, an official in the Ministry of Railways told APP.
He said that rehabilitation work of two other railway stations at Rs 14.26 million cost including Zero Point (Mirpur Khas-Khokrapar) and Sibi were in progress.
In-fact the progress of these works remained very slow in the initial years which has been accelerated through allocation of adequate funds during last three years, he added.
He said Pakistan Railways has also planned up-gradation of 16 major railway stations under various PSDP projects which include 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 has been started while architectural and structural drawings of the remaining stations are under finalization,” 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, 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 has 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, the official added.
He said that three railways stations which include Narowal, Hassanabdal and Nankana Sahib were selected for provision of better facilities to Sikh Yatries and to promote international religious tourism.
