AFTER Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM) and Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), it is now the Pakistan Railways, which is in the headlines because of its financial trouble, mismanagement and protests by workers, who face perpetual problems of salary and pension delays. A number of trains could not depart for their destinations because of the protest by employees, forcing passengers to join them in frustration.
The protest came a day after the outgoing Chief Executive Officer Shahid Aziz highlighted the dire situation, stating that a bailout package of Rs 35 billion was urgently needed to save the struggling institution. According to him, the PR requires Rs 4-5 billion to clear pays and allowances and Rs 8 to 10 billion for maintenance including track and rolling stock besides clearance of outstanding liabilities from previous years. Pakistan Railways has been in dire straits for long and the successive governments approved financial packages to bail it out but necessary reforms have not been carried out to address its recurring problems and challenges. Experts say Pakistan Railways has not been on track because of the multi-faceted challenges of poor governance, political interference, corruption, inadequate human capital, poor infrastructure and huge deficits are preventing it from being on rails. In addition, the growing share of investment in road infrastructure and the continued low investment in Pakistani railways have had a negative impact on the financial position of the PR. The institution has huge infrastructure and assets, which can be utilized to help improve its financial health, viability and service quality but except for periods when Khawaja Saad Rafiq was assigned the portfolio of the Railway, the department remain dormant and no worthwhile attempt was made to overcome even those issues that do not require substantial investment. A turnaround is possible if corruption is plugged, redundant and inactive staff is jettisoned, there is no political interference in its operations, its huge land bank is retrieved from grabbers and put to profitable use and focused is shifted on freight services. There are scores of studies and recommended solutions and what we need is sincere and committed efforts to implement them.
