Pakistan Railways is putting maximum efforts to complete the rehabilitation work of a 33.50-kilometer track ‘through sleeper renewal’ between Quetta-Bostan and Quetta-Chaman section at the earliest. “The track will not only facilitate the passengers and small businessmen, but also connect three major cities of the Balochistan province,” an official source in the Ministry of Railways told APP.
He said the railway network in Balochistan province mainly consisted of Quetta Division having Dera Allah Yar Sibi-Quetta, Quetta-Chaman, Sibi-Khost, Spezend-Dalbandin-Taftan and Bostan-Zhob which were closed for the last 15 years. The source said there were two passenger trains namely Jaffer Express (40Up, 39 Down) and Chaman Passenger (349Up, 350 Down) operating in Balochistan while no stations had been closed during the last 15 years in the Quetta division.
He said the overall length of the railway track in Balochistan was 1470.36 kilometer including the closed Bostan-Zhob section. “Most of the track was more than one-hundred-year-old and on certain stretches, engineering speed restrictions have been imposed due to deferred maintenance and owing to resource constraints,” he said, adding that the routine maintenance of track was being carried out with available resources.—INP
