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Children in school get all excited on hearing the school bell.
But this is the sound of the ‘bell’ [a bar of steel hung from the ceiling] at the City Railway Station in Peshawar, used to alert passengers at the station.
The bell is used to alert passengers, 10 minutes prior, about the arrival of a train.
Nobody, including the station master, was ready to comment on this ‘outdated’ system of alerting passengers..so we spoke to the Railways Minister Ghulam Ahmed Bilour.
We are about to introduce a new ‘signal alert’ system, which will stop trains before an accident occurs.
We are working on it ..but because of [poor] economic conditions, it is difficult to run the current system much less introduce a new one.
This ‘bell’ is also used to alert passengers about a train ready for departure.
Besides the alert system, even the telecommunications system is outdated, which is used to acquire information about a train’s arrival.
The railways minister does not see any signs of improvement in the railways system during the current government’s tenure.
Seven projects have been approved now, had these been approved back in 2009, railways would have been more stable.
It seem that the next government will benefit from the improvement and not the current one.
Check out this [outdated] system of giving permission to trains to enter the station.
A lever, manually, pulled at the station and the signal comes down, allowing the train to enter the station.