LAHORE    -    Railways Minister Khawaja Saad Rafique said on Monday that initially selected railway stations and some trains would be used to implement branding initiative. Addressing a branding conference at a local hotel, he said that spaces would be offered for branding on few trains and at se­lected railway stations and gradually this initiative would be implemented in the whole system. He said, “Brand­ing initiative should be implemented in such a way that it may not affect the esthetic sense.” In past, he said a lot of efforts had been made to start branding initiative in railways and to use its locations and trains for com­mercial and publicity purposes. Kha­waja Saad Rafique said that being a Pakistani all of us should make sin­cere efforts to steer the country out of existing challenges. He said that honest officers had been appointed on main posts in railways and there was no political interference within the department, adding that even railways minister could not interfere in the policies of railways. Branding initiative would help private compa­nies to enhance their business and he requested the private companies to take it as a national cause and play their role in strengthening the railway. He said: “If we look at other countries, railway play a significant role in strengthening economy of any country.” The Minister said that two decades were required to turn­around railways, adding that results could not be achieved through hol­low slogans. He said: “Despite finan­cial challenges in the railways we will keep our spirit high to uplift the  department.” Saad Rafique said that efforts were being made to start Main Line-1 project in a viable situ­ation after cost cutting. He said that railways wanted to move forward with the support of private sector and in light of professional opinion.

The Railways Minister said that there was a lot of potential in the country and efforts had to be made in right direction to achieve desired results. Responding to a question, he said that all parameters regarding safety of installations would be de­cided, adding that company involved in branding and department both had to play their role in this regard. He said: “We have to educate travel­lers as well to protect installations in a better way.” To another query, he said that railways wanted to imple­ment branding initiative within sixty days. He further said that railways had got permission regarding com­mercial exploitation of its property for certain time period and it was related to real estate exploitation. He said, as far as branding was con­cerned there was no ban on it. Re­sponding to a question, he said that continuity of policies was highly im­portant to streamline the working of public departments. RAILCOP Chief Executive Officer Syed Najam Seed also gave presentation on branding.

Railways Secretary Syed Mazhar Ali Shah, Railways CEO and others officers were also present.