Rampant Corruption derailing #pakistan Railways #pun #fail #fact

Karachi

The financial situation of the Pakistan Railways (PR) remains in dire straits while many of its engines are lying useless, despite the fact that the number of passengers as well as goods traveling on its trains are on the rise. Many blame this dismal situation on the mismanagement and corruption of Railway officials.

Around 35,000 passengers visit the city and cantonment stations on a daily basis for travel to different part of the country. But in June and July, that number grows to 60,000 at both stations everyday. Besides this, the number of passengers traveling out of the Landhi station also increases during the summer months. The growing number of passengers clearly indicates that although revenues are coming in, something is amiss as PR remains in financial doldrums.

In terms of cash flow, on usual days all the passengers combined pay a grand total of around Rs2.5 million for travel out of the City Station and Rs3.5 million from the Cantonment Station. That is a grand total of Rs6 million from both stations. But those figures jump even higher during the peak season, which begins in June and ends in July. Revenue earned at the City Station grows to approximately 3 million and the Cantonment Station earns around 5 million. The total amount of revenue collected by all the stations of Karachi combined is a staggering Rs10 million.

Despite these earnings, Pakistan Railways has a mere 156 engines, out of just six are used as used as goods trains. The government-run department has around 145 such engines that could easily be repaired, while there are around 200 of them that are completely out of order and are only good for scrap. It is believed that everything from small corruption to large scale irregularities is hampering the operations of Pakistan Railways.

In 2000, 69 engines were imported from China during the rule of General Pervez Musharraf. However, 40 of them developed problems after being used for just two years. Even the engines which are currently operating are not being run on full capacity, which is the primary reason behind the delayed arrival of trains at their destinations. Only the Tezgam and Karakoram Express are blessed with engines that can be used at their fullest capacity.

Generally an engine has six motors and only the aforementioned trains have that number. However, the rest of the engines being used by PR are running either two or four motor engines.

The power plants used to supply electricity to the trains that run along the country’s rail tracks are also in short supply. As a result, passengers suffer a great deal as they forced to ensure long journeys without fans or lights.

The Bolan Mail, Khushhal Khattak Express, Bhaudin Zakria Express and Qalandar Express operate without operational lights due to their non-operational power plants.

However, many fail to see a concrete reason behind the failure of PR to repair their engines and power plants, especially since several trains, carrying thousands of paying passengers are traveling along the country’s tracks, earning millions in revenue.

For example, the Faisalabad-bound Shah Rukan-e-Alam Express leaves Karachi with 14 to 15 economy class bogies and 1200 to 1500 passengers.

The Awam Express, a Peshawar-bound train has lower AC bogies, besides around 18 economy class bogies. The service may carry around 2000 passengers during its daily operations. Meanwhile, the Lahore-bound Karakoram Express has six business class and up to 10 economy class bogies. Another Faisalabad-bound train service called the Millat Express leaves Karachi with lower AC class and nine economy class bogies.

Other trains that leave Karachi for their respective destinations include Night Coach Karachi Express (Lahore), Tezgam (Rawalpindi), Bhaudin Zakria (Multan), Khushhal Khattak (Peshawar), Bolan Mail (Quetta), Qalandar Express (Larkana), Khyber Mail (Peshawar), Sukkar Express and Pakistan Express (Rawalpindi) Years ago, long-running train services including the Shalimar Express (Lahore), Jinnah Express (Rawalpindi), Tezro (Peshawar), Nishtar Express (Rawalpindi) and Bhanbor Express were suspended due to the lack of locomotives and other necessary facilities.

Interestingly workshops in Karachi, Lahore and Rawalpindi have the ability to repair faulty engines. In addition to this, there is a PR-owned factory in Risalpur which has the expertise to manufacture engines

However, Pakistan Railways’ losses are on the rise and the number of passenger and freight trains are decreasing. Now authorities are all set to outsource goods trains despite the fact that the main source of revenue for PR is the transportation of goods .

In 1999, PR suffered financial losses to the tune of Rs20 billion, which increased to Rs40 billion in 2006-07 and touched a staggering Rs52 billion by 2010-11.

During the tenure of Javed Ashraf Qazi as railways minister, lands, schools, clubs and other properties of the department were sold, but this could not help minimise the losses.

In Karachi, acres of land belonging of the railways in Landhi were taken by a private party belonging to the Pakistan Muslim League (Q) to set up a Bachat Bazar. The land had been leased out for a few years and according to the agreement, permanent structures could not be constructed on the land. However, hundreds of concrete shops were constructed.

Officially, Karachi City Railway Colony has 905 quarters for its employees. However, some 11,000 houses have been constructed on the land and these illegal encroachments also use electricity and water meant for the railways.

According to Chairman of the Railways Workers Union Manzoor Razi, the government-run department cannot emerge from this crisis unless it is bailed out with Rs50 billion.