RAWALPINDI: Railways Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed has said that he can order trains to resume operations by Tuesday but “waiting for Prime Minister Imran Khan to say yes first”.
Addressing a press conference in Rawalpindi today (Sunday), he said that the decision to resume train services will be taken after a meeting with Prime Minister Imran Khan on Tuesday.
He said that hordes of people were waiting to visit their families on Eid, adding that trains will be overcrowded if they do not start functioning by this week.
The Railways Minister also announced that ticket prices will also be reduced by 50-60 percent once trains resume operations, even though the move will land the ministry in a loss.
“Railways do not only belong to Punjab, but to the entire country. I appeal to the prime minister to resume train operations. We are going into a deficit because this is a means of transportation for the poor,” he said.
“If you give me permission [to resume train operations] today or tomorrow, I can work on SOPs. After that, I cannot,” he noted.
Sheikh Rasheed further said that if train operations do not resume in the next two days, railways authorities will have to apologise to the people. “We have to give pensions and salaries to people before Eid,” he added.
Earlier, DS Lahore had said they would resume train operations across the country as soon as the green signal is received.
Earlier, the Railway Minister had appealed to Prime Minister Imran Khan to allow the resumption of rail operations ahead of Eid.
ADVERTISEMENT
