Improvement in Railways

Minister of Railways Khawaja Saad Rafique is probably the most agile person in Nawaz Sharif's cabinet; he is reported to have turned the corner of railways' faltering financial health through his hard work and imaginative policies. Talking to the APP at the Lahore Railway Headquarters on 31st August, 2014, Railways General Manager (Operations) said that the financial position of Pakistan Railways had improved tremendously after passenger and freight sectors attracted commuters and traders due to several measures taken by the PR administration. It was claimed that all-out efforts were made to rationalise fares, improve the availability of locomotives in the freight sector to ply up to 16 cargo trains in a day, ensure punctuality of passenger trains from 10 percent to 55 percent. Efforts were also made to raise fuel availability from zero level up to 15 days requirements, streamline train operations, and retrieve several hundred acres of encroached railway land. GM operations attributed the success of attracting passengers to use railways for their travel to the strenuous efforts of the Railways Minister. As cargo trains could generate massive revenues, it was decided to restore freight trains to the extent of two trains daily from Karachi port to upcountry, with hopes of increasing the frequency to 8-10 trains by the end of the current year. Transport of oil through cargo would fetch Rs 4.4 billion annually while Rs 5 billion could be earned by dispatching export/import containers through freight trains. Two locomotives are expected to be rehabilitated every month while rehabilitation of 27 locomotives is already in progress to induct them into freight operation. Railways has valuable assets worth billions of rupees in the shape of land, most of which is illegally occupied. The administration launched a campaign against illegal occupants and as many as 2,704,750 acres of land has been retrieved so far. Lahore-Karachi double track has been completed; it will be inaugurated anytime soon.
A snapshot of Railways' recent achievements confirms a widely held belief that Pakistan Railways is one rare entity which has made a considerable progress over the last one year or so due to the untiring efforts of its Minister to transform its working environment and change the fortunes of this sinking PSE. This would appear to be strange in a country where the relevant minister and top officials of a state-owned business organisation just mark time, overburden the entity by recruiting their kith and kins and the enterprise is in a much worse shape when they depart. The case of railways was no different. Pakistan Railways was in a critical stage when the present government took over due to locomotive shortages, a lack of maintenance and motivation, poor infrastructure, corruption, overstaffing, encroachment on its lands, fuel shortage etc. Passengers and freight services declined substantially over the last five years and gross earnings of Pakistan Railways nose-dived from Rs 23.2 billion in 2008-09 to Rs 18.1 billion in 2012-13. With capping of overdraft by government of Pakistan in 2007, finances required for even maintenance were not available. Over-aged infrastructure and rolling stock, increase in fuel prices, rupee depreciation and subsidised railway fares led to an increase in expenditure. A sharp increase in salaries and pensions resulted in diversion of all revenue earnings to this obligatory payment at the cost of operational and maintenance requirements. Ultimately, the financial position became so precarious that Finance Division had to commit itself to bear the expenses of even salaries and pensions till the crisis was over.
One must not lose sight of the fact that Pakistan Railways is no ordinary public sector enterprise. Its network comprises 7,791 km route, 423 locomotives, 1700 passenger coaches and 16,179 freight wagons and its efficient functioning could greatly facilitate commerce and trade, reduce transportation costs and promote rural development and natural integration. Railways also provides livelihood to a very large number of people directly and indirectly and is a cheap mode of transportation. The policy approach of the new administration is very positive. It does not believe in downsizing but has concentrated its efforts on upgrading and procuring more locomotives, retrieving its encroached land where shops, markets and plazas can be constructed, ending corruption and increasing efficiency. The government of Pakistan has also allocated Rs 39.4 billion in PSDP for the financial year 2014-15 for the development projects of Pakistan Railways due probably to the clout of the Railways Minister and his zeal to make a difference. Anybody who has travelled by rail or booked cargo for some upcountry destination recently could vouch for the improvement in the working of railways which is a good omen for the economy of the country and gives a new hope. However, we would urge upon the government to confine its efforts to the rehabilitation and upgradation of the existing railway infrastructure for the time being rather than announce high cost and more complex projects like connecting Murree and Muzaffarabad with the railways' main network.