Speaking at the opening ceremony of a reservations office at the Lahore Railway Station, the minister began by condemned television talk show hosts for their criticism of his ministry and the federal government. “The media will never be satisfied by the measures that the government takes for the betterment of any institute,” Bilour said.
The minister admitted that the PR was in a poor state but said this was down to years of neglect as well as recent tragedies. In riots following the assassination of Benazir Bhutto in December 2007, protesters sacked and burnt 35 railway stations, 31 locomotives and 220 railway cars, he said. “We faced another huge loss of billions of rupees during the floods,” he added.
He said that the government had not given PR a single penny. “We feel like beggars asking for funds so we can pay the salaries and pensions of railway workers. Of course the media never focuses on this fact,” he said.
Bilour said that up to 400 railway cars were standing idle in Karachi since locomotives were not available. He said that 145 locomotives were awaiting repairs but the money needed was just not available.
He said repairing the locomotives would take at least one year since the PR cannot repair more than 12 locomotives per month.
“We know that PR is in the worst condition but our assets are in excellent condition,” said Railways Chairman Shahid Hassan. “We have experienced technical staff and rail tracks throughout the country on which we run trains at speeds of 150 kilometres per hour,” he said. Hassan said that the poor state of Pakistan’s rail infrastructure was down to a lack of investment, with the government seeming to prefer spending on roads and motorways than on new track and trains.
General Manager for Operations Ashfaq Khattak said that PR was not planning to sack any employees or close passenger train routes.
He said that it had not made a decision on whether to increase fares. He noted that PR had not raised fares since December 2008, though the price of diesel had gone up from Rs50 to Rs78 per litre in that period.
He added that PR would celebrate its third golden jubilee this year, since it had been in the region for 150 years. He said that the first train in the region ran on May 13, 1861, from Karachi to Kotri.
The new reservation office has 20 counters and a waiting area. The other reservation office at railway headquarters will remain open too.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 22nd, 2011.
COMMENTS
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ