Mega rail projects go down the drain due to mismanagement

LAHORE - Pakistan Railways, generally considered to be a the poors means of transportation, is currently on the verge of total collapse mainly because of its surmounting debt that has reached up to Rs52 billion, while the development projects, started in 80s and 90s, have become unfeasible and impracticable due to corrupt Pakistan Railways bureaucracy and unnecessary involvement of political elements. And now, the Federal Government has no option but to seriously mull restructuring of Railways as mob of officers has thrown the department into abyss. Billions of rupees projects, Pepri Marshalling Yard Karachi, Locomotive Factory Risalpur and Islamabad Carriage Factory, are those mega projects that now have been collapsed totally as currently their output is almost zero. Instead of taking steps to overhaul these mega projects and get their subsequent output, Pakistan Railways authorities preferred to purchase bogies and engines from China and other countries on loans or deferred payments with heavy interest rates. Pepri Marshalling Yard Karachi was established after spending billion of rupees to upload frights/luggage trains within shortest possible time. For that purpose, even colonies for officers and other staff were constructed. The new system has been running since many years but afterwards the marshalling work again transferred to Kemari Yard with reasons best known to Pakistan Railways management. Now, Pepri Marshalling Yard Karachi seemed to be a graveyard of ill-fated and shapeless bogies. It is to be noted that Pakistan Railways is still paying million of rupees against its electricity bill. Likewise, Locomotive Factory at Risalpur was built on 251 acres of land after spending Rs2.30 billion in 1993 despite the fact that PR had already such a facility at Rawalpindi in the shape of CDL to get the same result that could be upgraded after spending a small amount. In the beginning, the factory rolled out many railway engines after assembling them successfully but, within few years, the output came to almost standstill and cost of assembly of an engine became more than a zero-meter imported engine. In Pervez Musharraf era, 69 engines were imported from China which proved to be catastrophe for Pak railway tracks and eventually became out of order within few years. Similarly, Islamabad Carriage Factory, a valuable asset of PR, was not only fulfilling the needs of Pakistan Railways but also exported beautiful bogies to Bangladesh. However, unfortunately, former Railways Minister Ashraf Qazi ordered the import of 250 bogies at the rate of Rs50 million per bogie from China at the time when this factory could produce relatively better bogie in the range of Rs11.2 million. It would be worth mentioning that local manufactured air-conditioned bogies are still being operated while imported bogies are lying idle.

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