LAHORE (Kashmir English): As part of its wider reforms and efforts to boost revenue and enhance services to the passengers, Pakistan Railways (PR) has decided to outsource the commercial operations of another 15 passenger trains to the private sector.
The PR has duly advertised in the leading newspapers, inviting bids for the purchase of tender for the operation of another 15 passenger trains from the private operators, and an open auction for the purchase of these trains would be held on June 16 at the Pakistan Railways Headquarters at Lahore.
The tenders would be decided through an open competition. The decision has been made in line with the strategy of the PR to promote public-private partnerships to upgrade train operations and reduce state funding pressure.
However, as per the report, several private companies have already been declared eligible for the open auction.
What Trains Are Going To Be Outsourced?
The PR has included certain trains in the plan of handing over their operations to the private companies, which include the following:
- Hazara Express
- Awam Express
- Karakoram Express
- Karachi Express
- Millat Express
- Farid Express
- Bahauddin Zakaria Express
- Ravi Express
- Lasani Express
- Thal Express
- Mianwali Express
- Sukkur Express
- Narowal Passenger
- Sialkot Express
- Faiz Ahmed Faiz Passenger
Past attempts failed to yield much desired results: Pakistan Railways has tried many times to hand over the operation of certain trains to the private operators, but only a few of them have attracted several bidders, while many routes of railway trains have failed to get a response from the private companies.
As per reports, the Mianwali express train has already been given to a private operator, and later it was handed over to the PR, as per the company’s argument over operational and commercial difficulty with the running of the trains.
Previously, a series of tenders to outsource train operation failed due to higher benchmarks, policy issues, and non-feasibility; however, at least 15 trains have been in line this time.
Railways depending on PPPs: Federal Minister for Railways, Hanif Abbasi, has assured many times that there is no privatization; the ownership of the trains and assets like railways, track, engines, and drivers, etc. would remain with PR, while private operators would run the passenger-related operation of train operations.
The Railways expects that this move will help earn billions of rupees annually and improve operations like cleanliness, ticketing, service delivery, while other related operations will improve with efficient and effective management by PR.
According to official data presented in the National Assembly, 3 passenger trains were successfully outsourced, while 15 others are already in the pipeline for open auction.
