After successful experience of Business Express, Pakistan Railways is heading towards running ten more trains through public-private partnership (PPP) between Lahore and Rawalpindi. "Initially, we have invited the interested parties to submit bids to run four trains," said a railway official. He said among four trains being planned through PPP include 101 Up Subakraftar, 102 Down Subakraftar, 103 Up Subakhuram and 104 Down Subakkhuram.
In the next phase, the official said other six trains would be offered for public-private partnership. He said the four trains have been offered through an advertisement and the interested parties have been asked to submit their documents by April 16, 2012. The official said the applications are available against Rs 30,000 from the offices concerned and the firms offering better technical and financial bids would be eligible to win the contract.
Among other three pairs of trains being offered for partnership with private parties after finalising deal of Rawalpindi cars, include Farid Express, Shahin Express and Super Express. According to an official, the operations of 101 Up and 102 Down Subakraftar were suspended around six months ago owing to fuel shortage.
Moreover, the official said an agreement has already been signed with NLC that would repair of 30 locomotives at railway workshops. The project would cost around Rs 500 million that will be paid by NLC and will be reimbursed by the department within two years in form of rebate to the NLC against normal freight charges. The repair of the locomotives would be completed in eight to 10 months. As per deal, the railways would use 15 of them to carry freight booked by the NLC and the rest will be utilised by the railways for passenger and freight train services.
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