It’s been six months since the launch of the latest private train and it has already taken much load off Pakistan Railways. Pak Business Express has paid Rs516 million to Pakistan Railways for using its rail network for running its train.
The amount Pak Business Express paid to Pakistan Railways is more than the grand total it made from all other trains combined, Mian Shafqat Ali, director of the company told The Express Tribune.
It is also enough to cover losses of Railways for five of the past six months as the state-owned enterprise announced earlier this week that it incurs a loss of Rs100 million a month.
The private company Four Brothers entered into a deal with Pakistan Railways in 2011 and made a Rs225 million investment in the project. The privately-run train is bound to pay between Rs1.3 million and Rs1.5 million per day to the Railways.
The success of Pak Business Express has added a new page to public-private partnership as the private sector run train is providing much-needed funds to Pakistan Railways at a time when it’s facing a huge financial deficit and many of its trains are waiting to be fixed in the workshops.
Ali said that the very objective behind this venture was revival of railways and bringing back the lost glory once attached to it.
He said that Pak Business Express has so far spent Rs170.65 million to improve services for passengers such as establishing waiting lounges and canteens among others.
Pak Business Express has also spent a big amount to reduce travel time between Lahore and Karachi, Ali said. The train is currently the fastest train in its route.
“Time is the biggest issue for train commuters and the management of Pak Business Express has focused on this issue vigorously and this is the only reason that the occupancy of this privately sector run train is improving with every passing day,” he said.
The service reached 70% occupancy as of February 2012, slightly away from the 88% occupancy that it targets to achieve.
Ali said that the success of Pak Business Express has opened up new doors of public-private partnership and it is an achievement that now Pakistan Railways has offered more trains to the private sector.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 8th, 2012.
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