Pakistan Railways sets December deadline to put 13 express trains in private hands

Pakistan Railways has set a December deadline to hand 13 express passenger trains to private operators, Railways Minister Hanif Abbasi said, Dawn reported Sunday. The move widens an arrangement under which private parties already run six services on a commercial basis.

Services named for outsourcing include Tezgam, Karachi Express, Allama Iqbal Express, Mohenjodaro Express, Sialkot Express and Bahauddin Zakariya Express. Officers have been told to complete the process by Dec. 31, according to the newspaper.

The plan comes as the railway's revenue mix shifts. Freight earnings have overtaken passenger income for the first time, Dawn reported. Abbasi said he expected passenger and freight operations alone to bring in 120 billion rupees by June 30, when the current fiscal year closes.

Brakes, bridges and blacklists

The minister paired the outsourcing timetable with orders aimed at the condition of the network. "I have also asked the officers to replace the faulty brake cylinders, blocks and shoes with new ones," he said. Private vendors held responsible for delays in supplying equipment will be blacklisted, and officers were instructed to get every dummy coach and wagon into working order, Dawn reported.

Several repair jobs now carry deadlines. The flood-damaged Mian Kallar Bridge on the Lahore-Faisalabad line is to be rehabilitated within 60 days, and repairs to employees' residential quarters in Lahore are due within two months. Dawn also cited a 1.5-hour gain in operating time linked to track renewal in the Sukkur division. Railway workshops and yards are to receive modern CCTV cameras along with private security personnel.

Abbasi cast the package as a safety commitment backed from the top of government. "It is the vision of the prime minister as well as mine to make all-out efforts to maintain the railway infrastructure for safe train operation," he said.

Two jobs for one railway

What it means: Pakistan Railways is moving toward a split model in which private operators take over the commercial running of passenger services while the railway itself concentrates on track, bridges, rolling stock and freight, now its larger earner. The approach can draw in operators with an incentive to fill seats and control costs, but it only works if the network underneath is dependable. A private operator cannot sell punctuality on a line with faulty brakes or a flood-damaged bridge. That is why the maintenance orders matter as much as the outsourcing timetable, and why the threat to blacklist slow suppliers is part of the same plan. The 120-billion-rupee target will test both halves of the strategy at once: freight that keeps carrying the balance sheet, and passenger services that hold their value after they leave the railway's direct control. Meeting the December deadline would take private operation well beyond the six services that run that way today, turning a limited arrangement into a central feature of how the railway sells passenger travel.