| I |
f you happened to visit the City Railway Station lately, you must have noticed a sea change. The place has received a makeover you didn’t expect.
For one thing, there is an ATM. People can purchase tickets or book seats at the machines without having to go to teller windows. Large LCD screens guide you about the platforms as well as the timetable. Escalators have been installed, reportedly at a cost of Rs 60 million. This is a first for a railway station in Pakistan, and it is meant to help the elderly and disabled move easily between platforms.
Another addition is a paid waiting area run by a private contractor. A passenger told TNS that he had to pay Rs 300 to avail the facility for three hours. But it was worth it, he added, as it covered refreshments. Moreover, there’s free WiFi, phone charging points, and a business centre with computers and connectivity.
The passenger came away impressed. “I felt like I was at an airport lounge. It was never like this before,” he commented.
He had only one complaint: poor hospitality. “I was sitting around, but no one bothered asking if I’d like a coffee or something,” he said.
Sunaina Arif, the desk manager at the reception, explained: “The waiting room serves 200-250 passengers, from 6am till midnight; it’s not possible to please everyone.”
Zubair, the operations manager, expanded on Arif’s statement: “If somebody wants something, they should approach the staff and demand it, period.”
Babar Raza, a spokesperson for Pakistan Railways, denies that safety is being overlooked in favour of passenger comfort. “Both safety and service are our priorities,” he says.
The paid lounge isn’t the only place for passengers waiting to board the train. There are two more waiting rooms — one of those is for women only, the other is for families. Both are neatly furnished, air-conditioned, and have LCDs mounted on the walls.
Eating isn’t allowed in the free waiting rooms. But do people care? According to Shahida Khatoon and Farzana Bibi, two of the six attendants, the tiled floors of the waiting rooms need to be mopped and cleaned every few minutes, as “some people litter the place almost compulsively.
“Also, sometimes the passengers lie down on the floor. We try to tell them to make themselves comfortable in the [waiting] rooms instead, but they don’t listen.”
| W |
While the railway station has been upgraded, the most important aspect of train travel, safety, remains a serious concern. Recently, two coaches of the Peshawar-bound Awam Express derailed near Khanpur railway station in Rahim Yar Khan. The next day, the Multan-bound Musa Pak Express got off the track and entered the loop-line where it hit the sand barrier. Earlier, on August 1, almost all coaches of the Rawalpindi-bound Islamabad Express derailed between Kala Shah Kaku and Muridke, injuring many passengers and causing heavy damage to the train as well as the tracks.
Babar Raza, a spokesperson for Pakistan Railways, says work is under way to improve safety. He also talks of a planned Rs 13 billion upgrade of tracks in the Sukkur and Rohri sections.
Raza denies that safety is being overlooked in favour of passenger comfort. “Both safety and service are our priorities,” he says. “If more people want to travel by train, it will only benefit us.
“We’ve imported 246 new coaches from China. Like the Green Line, the Pakistan Business Train will have new coaches soon. We are improving the system one step at a time.”
Ahsan Raza is theeditor of Minute Mirror.He can be reached atahsanbudhhotmail.com