Pakistan Railways not in a position to cater to CPEC projects

Author: By Tariq Virk

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Railways (PR) has a fleet of 440 locomotives, but only 275 among them are functional.

According to documents available with Daily Times, the Pakistan Railways needs 600 locomotives in ‘sound condition’ to cater to the needs of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) projects and transport coal for coal-fired power plants.

The PR currently has only 275 locomotives in a running condition, while it needs another 375 engines during the next five years.

According to the documents, as many as 263 locomotives have completed their economic life, while 30 of them have outlived their age and will be abandoned in 2018. The Pakistan Railways is in the process for inviting tenders for 20 new locomotives. A senior official of the Railways Ministry told the state-run news agency last week that an agreement worth $213.689 million had been signed with a US-based company to procure these locomotives, which will be delivered by next year.

Besides that, a project for rehabilitation of 27 locomotives was under execution at Risalpur factory, while another 12 have been rehabilitated and inducted into the railway fleet.

According to the documents, around 87 railway locomotives, including 20 new ones, would be integrated in fleet in the near future.

As many as 76,777 employees are working in the Pakistan Railways, and the government had allocated Rs 24.646 billion for paying salary and allowance to them in the last year’s budget. The government had allocated Rs 22.092 billion for the company in 2013-14 and Rs 23.036 billion in 2014-15.

In return, the company earned Rs 18.07 billon in 2012-13, Rs 22.8 billion in 2013-14, Rs 31.925 billion in 2014-15 and Rs 36.582 billion in 2015-16.