The dual track between Lahore and Karachi will be completed by March 2013 while two more trains under public-private partnership are being started soon. This was stated by General Manager Operations Pakistan Railways Junaid Qureshi while speaking at the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) on Thursday.
Junaid Qureshi maintained that not a single locomotive has been added to railways fleet since 2008. He added that the Pak Railways is ready to provide track facility to private sector if it wants to run own locomotives. He said that Track Access Policy is likely to be finalized as a meeting to this regard is being held on Friday.
About trade with India, he said that the Pak railways is willing to enhance free day demurrage period from existing 24 hours to 48 hours. He said that the railways is fast heading towards revival as a number of steps are being taken to turn it into a profitable institution. He said that the Railways earned Rs 650 million more than what it earned last year.
He said that fuel and utility bills are eating up a bigger portion of federal government funding to railways. He said that since 1995 the fuel prices registered a surge of 800 per cent while railways made a raise of 105 per cent of freight train fares and 70 per cent in the fares of Passenger trains. The GM agreed that Mughalpura Dryport needs uplift on urgent basis and would be done at the earliest to facilitate the businessmen and enhance traffic.
Speaking on the occasion, the LCCI President Farooq Iftikhar said that the business community is very much concerned with the present state of Pakistan Railways. Although many public sector enterprises are deteriorating due to poor performance and bad governance, but railways is one of the crucial sectors that affects the business community directly.
The LCCI President said that the political interference coupled with poor maintenance of tracks, locomotives, coaches, bridges and mismanagement at a wide scale are the major causes of failure of Pakistan Railways. He urged the top management of railways to take immediate steps for improving the deteriorating situation. He stressed the need for Central Traffic Control system to avoid accidents and also improve the efficiency of trains.
The LCCI President said that the element of corruption either in the form of financial mismanagement in purchases or by way of not delivering the services with honesty and dedication is the main cause of this crisis in Railways. In 2003, Pakistan Railways purchased 69 completely built locomotives from China and in less than a decade almost 32 of these have been scrapped.
He said that Pakistan Railways has been left with a fleet of around 100 locomotives to run its entire operation, including 200 train and freight services. Shortage of over 400 locomotives will surely lead to further breakdowns of power vans in midways. The LCCI former Vice President Aftab Ahmad Vohra and Executive Committee Member Amjad Chaudhry said that the railway authorities are providing facilities to Prem Nagar Dry port while ignoring the Lahore Dry Port, which is under its own possession and control.
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