Senate body for making railways more efficient
Staff Report

ISLAMABAD—The Senate Standing Committee on Railways, which met at the Parliament House on Monday under the Chairmanship of Senator Kamil Ali Agha, underscored the need to make Pakistan Railways a public service-oriented, well-organized and capable organization by revamping and reorganizing it along modern lines to meet the new challenges.
Calling for reviving Railways as an inexpensive, safe and efficient mode of transportation, the Senate Body directed the Ministry not to spare any efforts for putting Railways back on track and to restore the public trust.
The Committee met here to dwell on issues, which plague its working like grant of ownership rights to residents of Katchi on Railway land, misuse of railway land leased out by the organization and closure of railway line between Sabi – Harnai section in Balochistan.
The meeting constituted a Sub-Committee under the Convenership of Senator Abdul Ghaffar Qureshi to look into the issue of ‘Katchi Abadis’ and grant of ownership rights to the residents of Katchi Abadies on the Railways land. The Sub-Committee included Engineer Rashid Ahmed and Nawab Ayaz Jogezai as its Members.
A report of the Sub-Committee constituted earlier by the Standing Committee on Railways to assess the damages caused to the organization in the aftermath of developments taking place in the period following Benazir Bhutto’s murder December 27, 2007 was presented to the main Committee during the meeting. On the issue of closure of Sabi – Harnai section, it was informed that the section was part of Sabi-Khost section of Pakistan section of Pakistan Railways, 133 Kilometers in length constructed in the 1930s and has since remained operational, with occasional closures.
There were two passenger trains per day and some freight trains for transportation of coal on this section, before it was closed in December-2005, when Bridge No. 94-P was struck by terrorists. This bridge was repaired within three days. As terrorists intensified their activities, another seven bridges were also damaged, which rendered the section unsuitable for train operation, the Committee was told. The Committee directed the Ministry of Railways to conduct the survey within a one month time and to coordinate directly with the Frontier Constabulary for providing security so that the bridge may be repaired and traffic could be restored on the section.
Besides the Chairman, the meeting was attended by Senators Mir Muhammad Naseer Mengal, Engr. Rashid Ahmed Khan, Naeem Hussain Chattha, Abdul Ghaffar Qureshi, Lt. Gen (R) Javed Ashraf, Nawab Muhammad Ayaz Khan Jogezai, Maulana Gul Naseeb Khan and Dr. Muhammad Ismail Buledi. Senior officials of the Ministry of Railways were also present in the meeting..