The decision of the Railways minister to halve the railway fare for the senior citizens as well the physically incapacitated persons needs to be welcomed. It was like a breath of fresh air. More important, however, is the need to make the railway travel attractive, comfortable and punctual and for that to happen, not only the railway minister himself, but other dignitaries of the government should develop the habit of travelling through railway . It will keep the railway staff on its toes. One remembers that in the not-too-distant past Ayub Khan used to travel by train whenever he visited different cities and for that purpose a special railway saloon was attached with the train he intended to travel.
There is no gainsaying the fact that we had inherited a very efficient railway system from the Britishers. It is a pity that instead of improving and expanding it we have, over the years, uprooted it. For instance, there was a railway track which the Britishers had laid from Rawalpindi upto Manzai, bang on the gateway of South Waziristan through Kohat, Bannu, Lakki and Tank. With a little effort we could have extended it to Balochistan via Tanai and also connected it with D. I. Khan. Today it is in utter ruins. Who has taken away the railway track, Goodness knows. What action has been taken against the culprits, nobody knows.
Insiders say railway was intentionally destroyed by the strong road transport lobby which has always ruled the roost in the country. It didn’t allow the goods trains to flourish and instead promoted its truck transport . In the same manner, it saw to it that the railways should be crippled to the extent that the commuters start preferring to travel by buses owned by them.
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