Railways to be back on track in six months, claims minister: PR operational deficit soars to Rs 38 billion

Pakistan Railways operational deficit has skyrocketed to Rs 38 billion due to shrinking number of passengers and freight operation. During the financial year 2010-11, PR earned total revenue of Rs 18.3 billion against the budget target of Rs 28 billion, registering a shortfall of Rs 9.7 billion, official documents available with Business Recorder show.
According to the documents, PR has a fleet of 500 locomotives; out of which 330 locomotives are out of order, stabled for want of repairs. Out of these 330 locomotives, 100 are beyond economical repairs and are in the process of being condemned. As per current pattern of operations, 174 locomotives are required per day for running passenger trains, while 92 are required for freight operations.
However, at the moment only 14 locomotives are available for freight operations with the result that the movement of freight by rail has almost come to a halt. Similarly, due to shortage of locomotives, the passenger operations, too, have been seriously hampered, causing suspension of 30-40 trains every day or a cumulative cancellation/ amalgamation of 2147 trains during the period from March to July 2011.
PR has a fleet of 1761 coaches out of which only 1200 coaches are in service, which are unable to meet the minimum requirement of 1450 coaches for normal composition of passenger trains. The capital investment in Railway assets has not kept pace with its due requirement during the last four decades. The result is that most of its operational assets are antiquated, with 60 percent of locomotives, 70 percent freight wagons, 40 percent passenger coaches and 68 percent of its track having outlived useful life.
Commenting on the deteriorating condition of PR, Federal Minster for Railway Ghulam Ahmad Bilour told Business Recorder that there is no doubt that Railways is near total collapse. However, the government has announced a package of Rs 10.1 billion for rehabilitation of stabled locomotives, coaches and freight wagons to put them back on track within the shortest possible time. The government has assured that the package would be disbursed this month.
He said that a meeting with Railways officials was held on Thursday to review measures to bring PR out of crisis and to formulate a strategy to allocate the resources scheduled to be released this month. A tender for purchasing of 150 locomotives has been floated while another tender for acquiring 27 to 46 more locomotives would be floated soon, Bilour said, adding that the matter of purchase of locomotives from China was in the High Court. Pakistan Railways can not get a single locomotive from China until the case is decided. He said he hoped that within six months, Railways would be back on track and would become a beneficial asset once again.