LAHORE: The Pakistan Railways has started a special train operation for supplying petroleum products to Pakistan State Oil (PSO) depots in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in a bid to ensure provision of fuel to motorists in the province.

The train operation was launched after Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif took notice of reports related to the shortage of diesel and petrol in KP due to the closure of roads rendering PSO unable to supply fuel to its depots.

“Following closure of the roads, entry/exit points in KP, the PSO is in trouble to ensure supplies to its depots through its road transport operation. This caused the shortage of POL products in the province, forcing the PM to intervene and assign us the task to start supplies through the railways goods train (oil carrying tankers) operation,” Minister for Railways Hanif Abbasi told Dawn on Saturday.

“The PM asked us that there should be no problem to the people of KP in terms of availability of diesel and petrol at fuel stations. We will make all-out efforts to ensure uninterrupted supplies to KP,” the minister said.

According to PR spokesman, a freight train carrying 750,000 litres of diesel from Rawalpindi reached Peshawar on Saturday.

He said another freight train carrying one million litres of diesel from Mahmood Kot will also reach Peshawar soon to further strengthen the supply chain.

Published in Dawn, September 27th, 2026