Daily Times

Sir: More attention needs to be paid to the state of the Pakistan Railways and the problems faced by people when they use the Railways’ services to travel.

Most trains seem unable to leave the station on time. This is why whenever the Pakistan Railways are discussed, it is always in a negative light. The organization regularly incurs annual losses running into billions of rupees. There is dissatisfaction across the board among the organisation’s stakeholders regarding its operational efficiency and alleged corruption. This is highly unfortunate.

Railway ticketing officers often issue the same berth and seat number to two persons and this goes on to cause disputes. The cargo services are also hopeless.

But all is not lost yet. Despite its bad shape and the decades of underinvestment and mismanagement that have turned it into what it is today, the Pakistan Railways can still turn itself around. Though this will require sizeable capital investment and checks on corruption as well as a modernization of operations.

First however, the relevant authorities will have to take notice of the problems plaguing the Railways. If its problems are addressed and passengers concerns alleviated the Pakistan Railways can become a lucrative corporation.

Rameesha Anwaar

Via E-mail

Published in Daily Times, May 27^th 2018.