Railway booking app launched

LAHORE

Railways Minister Khawaja Saad Rafique Monday inaugurated mobile application of the Railways to facilitate the passengers in advance booking through their smart phones.

In this regard, a ceremony was held here at Pakistan Railways Headquarters. CEO Railways Javed Anwar, GM Railways Anjum Pervez and a large number of railways officials also attended the event.

The minister told reporters that now people using smart phones could download PR app for advance booking. Our IT department is working very hard to facilitate people through modern technology, he maintained.

Earlier, through web, E-ticketing system for the facilitation of passengers has also been introduced a few months back.

The minister said over 70 per cent passengers use internet which would get benefit from this application. Now people from anywhere of the country can book their ticket easily through this application and no extra payment would be charged from the passengers for the service, he said.

The minister maintained over 350 (economy-class) trains are being air-conditioned to beat the heat. He said soon over 2,000 old freight trains would be restructured as well.

To a question, he said he would not talk on politics.

To another question, the minister said investigation has proved that no coal from freight train was robbed rather it sneaked through wagons on way to its destination.

We would follow strict policy in this regard now, he remarked. Separately, a spokesman of the Pakistan Railways has stated that due to derailment of a goods train, the rail traffic got affected for a little while. "Two cranes have been dispatched to address the issue. The CEO and the minister are personally monitoring the restoration work, he maintained.

The spokesman added due to ongoing developmental work, the incident took place but fortunately no human loss has been reported so far.

Tevta: Technical Education and Vocational Training Authority (Tevta) has registered 32,541 companies on Skilled Labour Market Information System (SLMIS) during one year. 

The facility of free registration is available for all pass-outs of technical and vocational institutes of Tevta and employers as well on this job web portal so that unemployed skilled youths may find suitable job opportunities.

Tevta Chairperson Irfan Qaiser Sheikh was addressing a meeting at Tevta Secretariat. Chief Operating Officer Jawad Ahmed Qureshi, Akhtar Abbas Bharwana, Aamer Aziz, Azhar Iqbal Shad, Waheed Asghar, Aisha Qazi, Mustafa Kamal Pasha and others were also present on the occasion.

According to a press release issued here Monday, Irfan Qaiser Sheikh said information system had successfully been launched during February last year. SLMIS is being appreciated at national and international level. Curriculum Vitaes of 304,632 trainees are available for recruitment at present. Similarly, employers are regularly posting available jobs; 800-900 jobs remain available both within country and abroad and the number is increasing with each passing day.

Tevta chairperson said that SLMIS developed by Tevta Punjab would provide key information on Punjab’s labour market, including market trends, skill training opportunities in different trades and technologies, data of passing-out students and job seekers as well as vacancies for skilled personnel in the industry. This system will help to reduce unemployment in the fight against poverty and enable the skilled youths of Punjab to contribute towards socio-economic development of the country, he concluded.