Leasing out tracks

Sheikh Rasheed argues there is sufficient space and time to allow some private railway services to operate

The federal government has decided to lease out rail tracks for private trains to run on them. Apart from raising much-needed funds, the government hopes to create an air of competition for its own services aimed at improving quality and the end-service offered to consumers. Federal Minister for Railways Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed announced this new policy during a news conference recently. Asked how and where was the market and capacity for private rail service, the minister responded by saying that they currently run 138 trains on tracks spread throughout the country. And with the government claiming to add another 38 kilometres of tracks over the past year, Sheikh Rasheed argued that there is sufficient space and time to allow some private railway services to operate.

Private rail services are not unknown in the country. There has been the public-private partnership rail service Business Express which helped offer train users an alternative service which operated largely on time and offered better services than those provided on the government-run trains. But with that background, it begs the question whether any company would want to take up the government’s offer to run a private train. This, however, makes more sense in the lucrative freight segment of railways than ferrying people, particularly in the context of CPEC. One bottleneck in any future for the railway of the country is the ageing track system. The world has moved to a different track gauge system. This is one of the biggest stumbling blocks in bringing bullet trains to the country — which would dramatically cut travel times. And then there is the issue of circular railways and remote areas of the country where the old railroads laid by the British are in place.

The federal minister is, however, correct that introducing competition in this key sector could prove to be the spark needed to revive railways as a major transporter in the country.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 22^nd, 2019.

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