The Pakistan Railway Advisory and Consultancy Services Limited (PRACS) has refused to operate Rehman Baba Express because of the losses it was incurring.
Sources said the PRACS had returned the train to the railways authorities along with a letter that cited that the addition of bogies and the two-time increase in fares had turned the venture into a loss-making one.
The PRACS – a subsidiary of the railways ministry – is no longer booking tickets for the train.
The Pakistan Railways will run Rehman Baba Express itself from September 17.
The PRACS had acquired Rehman Baba Express from the Pakistan Railways eight months ago at an annual payment of Rs2.88 billion. However, the PRACS was suffering a loss of Rs1.2 million every day because of the train.
Sources within PRACS told The Express Tribune that the losses being incurred were because of the defective bogies attached to the train, apart from the two-time fare hike and increasing its composition.
According to PRACs, it had recruited 200 temporary employees for Rehman Baba Express including booking clerks, cleaners inside the train and other posts. Separately, caretaker Railways Minister Shahid Ashraf Tarar on Friday visited his department's headquarters in Lahore and stressed the need to curb fuel theft.
He directed the staff there to shift the entire railways network on an online fuel management system.
The minister also appreciated the efforts of the administration for launching a crackdown against electricity thieves. He ordered that electrical supply companies’ meters should be installed in railways residential colonies.
Last year, the Pakistan Railways had decided to outsource the commercial management of 34 passenger trains to the private sector in order to provide better passenger facilitation to the travellers.
It later outsourced the commercial management of 14 trains to private parties under the public-private partnership mode through a “fair and transparent” bidding process.
An official in the railways ministry told APP that the basic purpose to outsource the trains was to provide better facilities to the passengers and generate more revenue for the department,
The trains privatised by the Pakistan Railways included Mehr Express, Fareed Express, Faiz Ahmad Faiz, Mehran Express, Sir Syed Express, Badar Express, Ghauri Express, Mianwali Express, Mohenjo Daro, Thal Express, Tezgam Express, Subak Kharam, Rawal Express and Ravi Express.
The official said the contracts for trains had been awarded through a “transparent” procedure of tendering under the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) Rules through an advertisement in leading newspapers. He added that only those trains were outsources whose bids had been received over and above the Pakistan Railways’ earning.
The official said the trains had been privatised with the objective to increase the Pakistan Railways’ earning and reduce its losses, improve cleanliness of the trains, and provide better food facilities to the passengers.
With constant complaints about its poor services, disruptions in train traffic and increasing accidents, the Pakistan Railways’ move to privatise trains was part of its plans to find a solution to its problems.
(With input from APP)
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