Pakistan Railways Travelers to get out of financial crisis on behalf of trains The process of handing over to the private sector is ongoing. However, in the second phase, instead of ten, private sector investors have been successful in only three trains.
The Railways administration had called for applications in this regard till September 19.
According to the management of Pakistan Railways, when the tenders were opened, only three parties could meet the conditions, which will be entrusted with the management of the trains from next month.
According to Railways Spokesman Babar Ali Raza, ‘We have set conditions keeping in mind the convenience of passengers and the laws of the country along with increasing the revenue of the railways. Without fulfilling these conditions, no train can be declared eligible to run.’
The Railways Department started the process of privatization of trains in 2014-15, but so far only two trains are being operated by the private sector.
Despite the privatization plan, the financial difficulties of the railways persist and the department is able to breathe only from the bailout package of billions of rupees received from the federal government.
Pakistan Railways authorities had decided to hand over maximum number of passenger trains to the private sector in a year. According to the plan, the management of the railway vehicles given to the private sector was to remain with the department.
Under the same project, 10 trains have been handed over to the private sector in the first phase, while a total of 22 more trains have been handed over to the private sector during the current year.
In this regard, the Pakistan Railways authorities have claimed an extraordinary increase in the department’s income, which is evidenced by the fact that the department’s expenses are covered by its own income.
Rana Raffakat Railways, the owner of the Mianwali Express running company for three years, claims to get the best profits after fulfilling the terms of the agreement.
Speaking to Independent Urdu, he said that the operation is going on uninterruptedly by the professional team and the number of passengers is increasing continuously, which is mainly due to the provision of facilities and food as per the agreement.
He added that it is a profitable business but sometimes there are small problems and they are solved together. As the tickets are booked through the online system of the railways, we are only responsible for providing a comfortable journey to the passengers.’
Conditions of Railways
Spokesman Pakistan Railways Babar Ali Raza while talking to Independent Urdu said that we have set enough conditions for the privatization of trains. But there are three conditions in which there can be no relaxation.
The first condition empowers the railway administration to fix train fares and increase or decrease them, while under the second condition, the train operating company will not be able to sell tickets on its own and such railway staff will be able to use the online system. will be able to do under.’
Elaborating on the third condition, Babar Ali Raza said that ‘there will be no compromise on the quality of food in all the trains and passengers will be given the food that will be included in the approved list.’
“There will be no change in this, while the train carriages will also be available according to the demand of the passengers who will be booked.”
According to Babar Ali: ‘Apart from this, many administrative conditions have been laid down. But company owners willing to take the train wonder about flexibility in all three terms.
“There were a lot of tendering companies in recent days but only three of them were able to fulfill the conditions.”
He further said that at present, Pakistan Railways is running a total of nine thousand 798 passenger trains in the country, while seven to nine freight vehicles are running, which are fully managed by the department. ‘
He said that in the second phase of privatization, Karachi Express, Awam Express, Hazara Express, Bahauddin Zakaria Express, Meher Express, Sukkur Express, Chenab Express, Mehran Express, Mohenjodaro Passenger, Rawalpindi Passenger will be run by the private sector. has been made practical.’
Revenue from privatization of trains
The railway system in Pakistan is considered to be a big system like other countries of the world. But the condition of the department has been deteriorating with time since last two decades.
This section contains related reference points (Related Nodes field).
There was a time in 2010 that Pakistan Railways did not even have the resources to pay the salaries of the employees.
The federal government had to allocate an annual bailout package of Rs 30 to 40 billion for Pakistan Railways.
However, after 2013, there was some improvement in the performance of the department, but the financial crisis could not be fully recovered.
This year, when the administration of Pakistan Railways accelerated the process of privatization of trains, an extraordinary increase in revenue was seen.
According to the data released by the Railway Administration, the department received an income of Rs. It’s happening.
A passenger train amid smog in Lahore on November 7, 2023 (Arif Ali/AFP)
During the first quarter, 12 lakh 74 thousand 471 passengers traveled in the trains operated by Karachi Division of Pakistan Railways and the punctuality of these trains was 89.79%.
Karachi division achieved 16.24% higher revenue in freight and passenger vehicle operations.
According to railway officials, passenger train fares were reduced by 10 percent last month, while employee salaries were also increased by up to 20 percent to pass on the benefit of increased revenue to passengers.
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