It was disclosed during the briefing of the Minister for Railways before the Senate Standing Committee on Pakistan Railways on Wednesday that four smart railway cars would be initiated on different routes on the basis of public-private partnership.
Speaking during the meeting, Secretary Railways Syed Mazhar Ali Shah asserted that Pakistan Railways is keen on shifting towards more public-private partnerships and plans to launch four smart railway cars for Lahore-Islamabad, Lahore-Faisalabad, Lahore-Multan and Karachi-Hyderabad lines at an estimated cost of $45 million, he noted.
The meeting was chaired by Senator Jam Saifullah Khan with Senators Saifullah Sarwar Khan Nyazee, Kamil Ali Agha and Dost Ali Jessar present where besides Secretary Syed Mazhar Ali Shah other top officials were also there.
Minister Shah explained to the committee regarding operation and performance of the ministry. He stated that railways are 62% safer and 72% more eco friendly than roads.
He explained that there are various ways railways can economically helped by reducing the oil import bill. However, the first-ever transport policy in the country was developed only in the year 2018 which aimed at safe, affordable, efficient, durable and environment-friendly transport in Bangladesh.
At present, Pakistan Railways was managing to operate on its own by expanding its market share from 8% to 30% but was lacking the finance to do so.
According to the secretary the 95 percent of the railway money was spent on pensions, pay and fuel with little as 5 percent spent on maintenance. According to the analysis, the liability regarding pensions amount for the financial year 2024-25 will be approximately Rs. 62 billion.
Currently, Pakistan Railways has worked on cutting its operational costs and has approached the federal government for being provided a place in the national account for railway pensioners.
The first step will be to expand the railway track from the Karachi to Multan, and in the second step, the track from Multan to Peshawar. The committee considered it appropriate to discuss the ML-1 project in a closed-door session and also undertook a tour of the railway workshops in Islamabad and Lahore so as to assess their efficiency.
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