Islamabad: Pakistan Railways is offering a 50 percent discount on tickets for persons with disabilities for all express and passenger trains except for the Green Line, state broadcaster Radio Pakistan said on Tuesday.
Persons with disabilities can avail the discount after presenting their Computerized National Identity Cards (CNIC) that bear the disability logo, a railways ministry official told the state-run media.
“He said that a 50 percent discount is also offered to the attendant accompanying visually impaired persons,” Radio Pakistan said, adding that wheelchairs are available at all major stations to assist persons with disabilities.
Pakistan Railways has also dedicated exclusive reservation and booking counters for persons with disabilities at its reservation offices, he said.
“The free-of-cost access to executive washrooms and restrooms has been provided at a few major stations for special persons,” the report said.
Railway is an essential mode of intercity traveling, especially among middle- and lower-income groups, with a network of tracks across Pakistan. However, carriages are often overcrowded, and many trains are said to be in poor condition.
The official said Pakistan Railways was operating 98 trains daily with 1,180 serviceable coaches. Pakistan Railways owns 1,680 passenger coaches out of which 72 percent of coaches have surpassed their useful life, the state media said.
