KARACHI:
Recently, I travelled from Rohri Junction to Shahdadpur through Hazara Express. There was one passenger who was travelling from Rohri Junction and three from Padidan without tickets. Surprisingly, all four of them were policemen and were probably going to Shahdadpur for the police training college there.
Between Padidan and Nawabshah, a railway official came to check tickets and instead of issuing tickets to them, he charged Rs500 from the passenger who boarded from Rohri Junction and Rs300 each from the passengers who boarded from Padidan. The railway official did not even issue the tickets but simply put the money in his pocket. After Nawabshah, the crew changed, and a new ticket checker came and asked them for tickets, and the passengers told them that they had paid the last ticket checker.
Every year, Pakistan Railways reports financial loss, and quite obviously, it is not because of operational costs but, to a large extent, because of the corruption of the railway staff. While our neighboring country, India, has built dedicated tracks for just freight trains, Pakistan Railways continues to suffer losses almost every year, along with derailments, poor tracks, dilapidated coaches, broken fans, dirty washrooms and faulty lights. If Pakistan Railways wants to remain sustainable, they should have to prioritise accountability, or they should outsource the management of trains. Without change from the lowest rung to the top one, we will continue to face losses that we cannot explain.
Arsalan Ali Mirani
Mirpur Mathelo
