Revolutionising Railways

At a largely attended press conference in Karachi on May 7, the Minister for Railways, Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, announced the launch of a train service from Khokhrapar to Mirpurkhas, on daily basis, as an additional travelling facility for the commuters in eastern Sindh.
Needless to point out, it will go a long way to address their problems. Notable, in this regard, is also the minister's revelation that the schedule of Sukkur Express has been revised, in accordance with the demands of the people travelling by this train.
At the same time, he gave the happy tidings of plans for revolutionising the Pakistan Railways at a rapid pace, with optimum utilisation of available resources, and creation of new ones.
Again, referring to the future plans of the Railways and provision of maximum commuting facilities to the people, he pointed to the prospect of introduction of four new trains by private companies, against Track Access Charges.
According to the Railways Minister, the number of freight trains will be increased from the existing eight to ten in Karachi, in view of the magnitude of imports and exports from the city. It will also be noted that, in this context, he referred to the ongoing talks with the chambers of commerce in the country in an effort to maximise usage of the freight trains and to ensure that no bogie remains unloaded when it returns from any point.
It will be recalled that speaking at the formal inauguration ceremony of the country's first freight express train last year, Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz had stressed the need of making the transportation system efficient enough to keep pace with the fast growing economic activity. As then noted in these columns, the emphasis on restructuring its vital segments appeared to have started with a bold new thrust.
Reference, in this regard, was also made to the creation of the Pakistan Railways Advisory and Consultancy Service (PRACS), in order to manage the freight express service, in collaboration with the private sector. Significantly, streamlining of the goods traffic was then reported to have resulted in increase in Railways' share in freight from four percent in six months.
It will also be recalled that on that occasion the PRACS was also stated as eyeing a 24 percent share in the next two years, thereby making a befitting contribution towards ending the predicament in long distance movement of goods all over the country.
It will thus be noted that Sheikh Rashid's elaboration of the Railways' plans forms part of the efforts unfolded last year. However, from all available indications, it will appear that it has yet to be pursued in a befitting manner, and a great deal is left to be desired.
For overly belated as the plan has been, to the mounting predicament of the transportation sector, it calls for due focus on quicker and effective rehabilitation of both passenger and freight traffic at one and the same time with a two-pronged approach.
Needless to point out, a long time has elapsed since the railway emerged as the safest, quickest and cheapest means of transportation the world over, but unfortunately, not so in this country.
The reason for this should not be too far to seek either. For as it happened, the task of transport of goods and passengers alike, has remained assigned to bus operators and truckers. Now that a beginning has been made in reversing the process, it needs to be pursued with greater devotion.