Woes of the Railways

The Pakistan Railways suffered another loss-making year as its revenue deficit surpassed Rs28 billion during fiscal 2016, raising question marks on not just the railway ministry’s statements of a turnaround, but also the government’s continued apathy towards state-owned entities. The Railways has been facing a financial crisis for a long time and its slump has persisted despite the introduction of new locomotives and so-called public-private partnerships. With motorways in the offing and road infrastructure being tipped to get better as the country implements the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, the Railways would have its work cut out unless drastic steps for improvements aren’t taken. So what has really gone wrong for the state-owned entity? The answer is simple. It hasn’t evolved with time.

The Railways continues to offer the same facilities and at the same pace it did years ago. Tracks are repaired only out of urgency and land encroachment continues to prove to be a headache for its management. Partnerships with the private sector have failed due to issues of poor management, with feasibilities and costs being inefficient and marred by corruption. It is not as if the market size for the Railways has shrunk as, in a population of close to 200 million, the majority can’t afford air travel. But escalating costs due to decades-old infrastructure and poor investment decisions have resulted in expenses soaring sky high. A general lack of accountability and a lack of interest on the part of the government have also led to Railways being treated like a third-rate transportation mode. For long, punctuality and keeping commitments have been words missing from Railways’ dictionary. It treats its consumers like it would treat stepchildren and this has resulted in a trust deficit, which in turn has translated into a huge revenue deficit. The less one mentions land acquisition issues the better. The government has either failed, or been a partner in crime, in encroachment and given up acres of railway land in favour of land grabbers. The Railways’ marketing and commercial departments are almost non-existent. It seems that in a country like Pakistan, along with the less privileged, their mode of transportation is also ignored.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 16^th, 2016.

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