Devastation caused by floods: 'over Rs one billion needed for rehabilitation of Railways system'

The devastation caused by floods has badly affected the infrastructure of Pakistan Railways, which had to suffer an estimated loss of Rs 2 billion, putting extra burden on the already over-burdened public sector organisation.
Talking to Business Recorder here on Monday, Pakistan Railways spokesman Shahid Aslam Mehar said the Railways has suffered more than two billion rupees loss on account of destruction of signals systems, Railway tracks and suspension of passengers and freight trains, damage to buildings and bridges in the recent malevolent floods throughout the country.
He said Railways was already facing serious financial crunch and acute shortage of locomotives and had been running on an over-draft of 40 billion rupees which forced the PR administration to suspend running of 120 passenger and freight trains.
"It would be impossible for the administration to achieve the revenue target of Rs 22.8 billion fixed for the current financial year, he added. Mehar said that hundreds of kilometres of railway tracks have been washed away in the unprecedented floods in Khyber Paktunkhawa, south Punjab and interior Sindh. He said more than one billion rupees would be required for the rehabilitation of the damaged tracks and signal system for the smooth functioning of the Railways.
He said that two most railway tracks linking Balochistan with rest of the country by railway service, that is Jacobabad and Sibbi section and D G Khan, Kashmore section have been badly damaged and trains' service remained suspended. This has not only caused heavy revenue losses to the organisation but also hampered transportation of relief goods to the inundated areas of the country. He said the inland transportation of various goods and commodities especially furnace oil is the major source of Railways' income. Since the suspension of trains service, furnace oil could not be transported to some parts of the country which caused revenue losses of the organisation.
He said Pakistan Railways spends Rs 14.5 billion rupees in the head of fuel expenditures while Rs 16.8 billion are dispersed as salaries and pension of the PR employees. The cash starved organisation pays Rs 4 billion to the state Bank of Pakistan as interest on 40 billion over draft as it further pays 4 billion rupees to the international Bank like Exim Bank of China for the loan taken for the purchase of couches and Locomotives.
In all, he said Pakistan Railways pays about Rs 38 billion annually as expenditure, but the recent floods had devastated Railways installations on a large scale that requires billions of rupees for their rehabilitation and renovation.
In response to a question, he said that exact estimate of losses would be known after a fortnight when flood water recedes in the lower part and life comes to normal. He said it would be priority of Pakistan Railways to restore passenger and freight traffic between Quetta and rest of the country so that normal economic activity is resumed in the country.