PR announces suspension of 11 trains
By Khalid Amin

ISLAMABAD—Pakistan Railways (PR) on Thursday announced to temporarily suspend the operation of 11 sets of trains with aim to divert ceased rakes on the major tracks of the country.
According to Pakistan Railways, the operation of 11 trains was suspended to make available the rakes to run them on major sections due to shortage of passenger coaches.
The suspended trains include, 5-UP/6-DN Sindh Express (Karachi-Lahore), 29-UP/30-DN Shah Rukn-e-Allam (Karachi-Multan), 119-UP/120-DN Pakpattan Express (Lahore-Samasatta), 129-UP/130-DN
Thal Express (Multan-Rawalpindi), 157-UP/158-DN Express (Hyderabad- Mirpur Sindh), 231-UP/232-DN Passenger (Lahore-Faisalabad-Shorkot), 239-UP/240-DN Passenger (Shorkot-Sargodha), 247-UP/248-DN Passenger (Faisalabad-Sargodha-Lalamusa), 265-UP/266-DN Passenger (Rawalpindi-Attock City) 323-UP/324-DN Sultan Bahu (Lahore-Shorkot) and KM-1UP/MK2-DN Shuttle (Wazir Mansion-Malir).
PR had to suspend its train service due to the fact that incertain areas of Sindh, the Railway assets including trains, tracks, Locomotives, bridges, level crossings, communication towers and other operational instruments came under severe attack by angry mobs after assassination of PPP Chairperson Benazir Bhutto on Dec 27.
The riots cost PR billions of rupees as the miscreants burnt and damaged over 63 railway stations, 29 locomotives, 31 level crossings, 170 coaches, 18 bridges and 5 cranes.
The other items included 27 block instruments and one VHF tower between Rohri and Sukkur causing complete disruption in Railways communication between Sindh and parts of the country.
At 16 different locations, the rail tracks were eitherup-rooted or badly damaged by the mobs, bringing the train operations at halt in Karachi and Sukkur divisions of Sindh.
The PR staff is actively pursuing to restore the train service on various major sections of the country as so far around ten express trains between Peshawar, Lahore, Karachi, Quetta andFaisalabad have been restored on one hand. While on the other it has been striving to put back the goods and oil stock on the rails.

Rs1.38b loss incurred after BB’s assassination

ISLAMABAD—Following the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, Ministry of Railway Thursday announced a mega loss of Rs 1.38 billion during violence.
Sources said that the loss was equal to fiscal budget of the ministry and it will take a lot of time to recover the said losses.
Meanwhile Ministry of Railway has asked federal government for additional funds to compensate the huge loss in violence after the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, last Thursday