Govt asked to resume train service to Kohat, Mardan, Khyber

PESHAWAR: A civil society organisation has launched a campaign to press the federal government to resume train service to Kohat, Hangu, Mardan and the tribal areas so that people can benefit from the facility.

The activists of Karwan-e-Amal, a civil society group in Kohat, on Sunday staged a rally to ask the federal government to resume the train service to their district.“We have approached the political leaders, federal government officials and others concerned to resume this important service for the people of Kohat,” said Saleem Altaf, chairman of Karwan-e-Amal.

He added that the campaign would continue for a few weeks for which the political leadership and elders of Kohat have been taken into confidence.According to the elders of Kohat, infrastructure is already there in the shape of tracks, railway station and other facilities and only the federal minister for Railways needs to approve resumption of the cargo as well as passenger trains.

“This will benefit thousands of people of not only Kohat, but the entire southern districts and the tribal belt,” one of the elders said.

Hundreds of miles of railway tracks were built in the past up to Mardan, Dargai, Torkham in Khyber Agency and Kohat and Bannu in southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. However, the tracks are not being used by any passenger and cargo train for the last several years. The government and the Pakistan Railways have lost interest in reviving the train service to any of these destinations.

The Khyber Train Safari from Peshawar to Landikotal in Khyber Agency used to be popular with local and foreign tourists but it was closed several years ago due to insecurity and other unspecified reasons. It ought to be revived now that the security situation has improved.

Thousands of kanals of land of the Pakistan Railways also hasn’t been utilised properly to benefit the public.

A number of elders have also asked for usage of the railway track in Mardan and Khyber Agency. There are reports that most of the properties of the Pakistan Railways have been occupied due to negligence of the department and the ministry. In Mardan, the railway station has been converted into a market.