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Summary Pakistan Railways has set up Vigilance Cell once again which would render different services.
It would work to root out corruption from the department.Railways Ministry’s Director General would be the head of the Cell while three senior officers from every division would be the member of the cell.The Vigilance Cell would monitor the stations, security of trains and review the causes of accidents. Strict action would be taken against the passengers who travel without tickets. Pakistan Railways is still not only the cheapest yet safest mode of travel but this public state enterprise is also the largest civil employer in the country.However, over the years, lack of attention, poor policies, increasing expenditures, misappropriation of funds, pilferage, nepotism and most recently, the floods have left the Railways with huge deficits running in billions of rupees.Since 1861 when the first railway line was laid down between Karachi and Kotri, the expansion of the railway network by the British came at a rapid pace up until 1947.The driving factors for this growth were strategic and economic in nature. For instance to thwart the Russians from the West, the British built the Khojak tunnel, the fourth largest at that time, in seemingly inaccessible areas of Balochistan to reach Chaman railway station.But after 1947, little has been done to expand and maintain this network.
