Political appointees and ex military personals running the railways and all other crown corporations in ground with zero knowledge of the business. even till today no one punished, no one fired. Same people still running the railways. How exactly is this going to solve the problem.
PPP or PML_N in power makes no difference, they are all thieves, present government is fixing the core issues how, buying new engines or overhauling the old ones si going to fix the problem how. when the people responsible for the mess are still their.
LUMS provides voluntary services to revitalise Railways
February 22, 2014
LAHORE - LUMS Faculty, Suleman Dawood School of Business (SDSB) has voluntarily provided its services for the sake of revitalising Pakistan Railways for which Khawaja Saad Rafique, the Minister of the Railways visited the institution on Friday.
For this matter, 16 PhDs hailing from the background of Finance, Marketing, Strategy, Organisation Development and Operations are currently working on various projects with the PR. The objective is to support the public utility in providing quality service to the masses in a sustainable manner. This voluntary effort will also enhance the research activities at LUMS which would be beneficial for students as they will gain practical insights about public organisations. The work began on this project in late 2013 and is expected to continue until practical and feasible outcomes are reached considering the Pakistan’s socio-economic scenario.
Federal Minister was accompanied by Anjum Pervez, General Manager Operations, Javed Anwar, Additional General Manager, Zubair Shafi Ghaur, Chief Marketing Manager and Hanif Gul Director Vigilance while LUMS team was headed by Abdur Razaq Dawood Rector of SDSB, Dr. Sohail H Naqvi, Vice Chancellor and Dr Arif Nazir Butt, Dean of Business School and hosted by the SDSB External Relations Department.
This visit is a continuation of senior business faculty’s visit to Pakistan Railways Headquarters in which the Railways sought cooperation and concrete suggestions for revamping, restructuring and turn-around of Railways, which was met by a positive response from LUMS. Different delegations from both sides are regularly meeting at the level of working groups headed by team leaders working in the fields of Operations, Cost Accounting, Finance, Marketing, Strategy and Organisational Development.
LUMS provides voluntary services to revitalise Railways
Railways to lay new track between Karachi, Gwadar
February 24, 2014
Lahore—Pakistan Railways (PR) is planning to lay track to link Karcahi to Gwadar seaport to facilitate traders.
PR sources told APP on Sunday that the new track would fulfil the needs of transportation of goods to Gawadar in future. Moreover, the PR was in contact with China for preparing studies for construction of Khuzdar, Baseemah, Jacobabad and Dera Ghazi Khan main line ( ML-2) and China would finalise the studies till the end of December 2015.China will bear all expenditures of the study of laying the new railway line. The PR is focusing on speeding up revenue generating activities under the direction of Minister Khwaja Saad Rafique.
The PR is also working on restoration of ECO train for Turkey via Tuftan and Zahdan. The train will help traders to transport their goods through train among Turkey, Iran, India and Pakistan.
The department is also planning to construct a dry port for container-holding at Havelian near Abbotabad for facilitating trade with China. After construction of the port, about two million tons of goods could be transported between Khunjrab and Havelian.
The PR minister hoped the railways would soon be able to overcome its deficit.—APP
PR to lay new track between Karachi, Gwadar | Pakistan Today
Productivity of Risalpur Locomotive Factory to be enhanced: Rafiq
February, 28, 2014
Friday, February 28, 2014 - Islamabad—The National Assembly was informed Thursday that an international tender will be floated for the procurement of 32 locomotives for Pakistan Railways. Minister for Railways Khawaja Saad Rafique told the House during question hour that these locomotives will be partially assembled at Pakistan Locomotive Factory Risalpur. He said a contract agreement has been signed for manufacturing of five diesel powered locomotives at the Locomotive Factory. The supply of material and kits for the assembling of these locomotives will be received by May this year.
He said efforts are also being made to prepare a business module to enhance the productivity of Risalpur Locomotive Factory. Minister for Railways Khawaja Saad Rafique said all the pre-requisites of Japan International Cooperation Agency have been fulfilled to secure financial assistance for Karachi Circular Railway Project. He said feasibility as well as social environmental engineering studies of the project has already been completed. He hoped that the project will be completed within the time span of the present government.
Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Shaikh Aftab Ahmad told the House that a special package of Rs 16 billion has been given to the PIA which is being used for the repair of non-operational aircraft. Parliamentary Secretary for Information and Broadcasting Mohsin Shahnawaz Ranjha said the present government is making efforts to transform Radio Pakistan into a profit-making organization. Several reforms in this regard have already been taken.
He said our prime focus is to enhance revenue of the National Broadcaster through advertisement and timely recovery of dues. He regretted that in the past there was no modus operandi for the recovery of dues. A strong system has now been put in place to recover the advertisement dues and as a result recovery of dues has increased to 200 million rupees. Besides, he said efforts are being made to sell air time of the organization to further enhance its income.
The Parliamentary Secretary said that Radio Pakistan, which reaches about 85 percent population, is broadcasting in 33 international and regional languages. These programmes focus on social, economic, cultural, educational and religious issues. He said it is also part of our party manifesto to promote the provincial languages and the national broadcaster through its regional programmes is also promoting national identity and moral values.
On behalf of Minister for Information Technology, Minister for States and Frontier Regions Abdul Qadir Baloch told the House that a PC-I has been prepared for provision of GSM facilities in Neelum District of Azad Jammu and Kashmir at a cost of 185 million rupees. He said the completion of this project will provide mobile connectivity to 85 percent area of Neelum Valley.—INP
Productivity of Risalpur Locomotive Factory to be enhanced: Rafiq
New Tracks in Okara
New Railway Track from Islamabad to Muzaffarabad on the cards
9 New Engines Join from China
Karachi-Lahore-Peshawar: Govt may revive rail link for coal shipment
ISLAMABAD: The government is reviewing the possibility of rehabilitating the Karachi-Lahore-Peshawar (ML-I) railway track with Chinese assistance in an effort to ship imported and domestic coal from Sindh for generating about 8,000 megawatts of electricity in Punjab.
The rail link is part of mega development schemes that will be discussed with Chinese authorities during upcoming meetings in connection with the Pakistan-China Economic Corridor, according to the Ministry of Planning and Development.
Federal Minister of Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal will lead a delegation for the deliberations to be held in China on July 7-8.
Under the corridor, China will secure energy supplies through the Gwadar Port for its northwestern provinces aimed at reducing the cost of doing business in addition to securing safer routes for the supplies from Central Asia and Africa.
Pakistan is also expected to benefit from the initiative as thousands of jobs will be created along the transit route, stretching over 2,000 km of roads. “The national development agenda of the government will make Pakistan a fast-growing economy in Asia,” commented the planning minister.
To review progress on what the government calls Early Harvest Projects under the corridor, a meeting was held at the Ministry of Planning. It was chaired by Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal and attended by Tareq Fatemi, Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs and Musaddiq Malik, Adviser to PM on Energy.
According to officials, the country has conducted a pre-feasibility study on the rail track and details will be shared with Chinese authorities in the upcoming meetings. A contract will soon be awarded to undertake feasibility study for which Rs400 million has been set aside.
Under the project, the government wants to modernise signal gears besides expanding existing tracks and laying new ones. The length of the rail track that will be modernised is 1,736 km, according to the pre-feasibility study. Pakistan hopes that China will provide a concessionary loan for the project.
The project was vital for transporting coal from Sindh to the planned coal-fired power plants in Punjab, officials added. The Punjab government has planned to set up six coal-based power plants. It aims to complete two plants in the next three years and the remaining four by 2018 – a year before the government completes its constitutional five-year term.
Punjab is expecting an investment of up to $10 billion in these coal-based power plants.
The meeting also discussed Gwadar projects that would be taken up with Chinese authorities. The projects finalised for the review meetings included 18.9km East-Bay Gwadar Port Expressway, infrastructure development for Export Processing Zones Authority and Gwadar Industrial Estate Development Authority.
The mode of financing for the Gwadar International Airport will also be discussed during the deliberations. China has already decided to construct the airport.
Officials said two other energy projects would also be taken up with Chinese authorities. Progress on 10 coal-based independent power projects at Gadani and a transmission line to link these projects with the national grid will also be part of the agenda.
Two projects of Thar – a mining scheme and a power project – will also be discussed with China.
As part of the economic corridor, Karachi-Lahore Motorway, 387km Multan-Sukkur Motorway and Lahore Metro Train (Orange Line) will also come up for discussion during the talks.
The planning minister directed the departments concerned to fast-track work on finalising financing agreements with China to kick-start physical work. He directed the authorities to set up project management offices in the ministries for speedy execution of projects as the economic corridor would be a game-changer for the region.
Karachi-Lahore-Peshawar: Govt may revive rail link for coal shipment – The Express Tribune
PR has cut deficit first time in 4 decades: GM
June 12, 2014
MULTAN: General Manager Pakistan Railways, Anjum Pervaiz Wednesday said that the Railways was able to cut its deficit for the first time in last 40 years and earned record Rs 5 billion revenue in the outgoing fiscal year 2013-14 showing 100 per cent improvement in revenue compared to the target.
Briefing the media at Multan cantonment railway station after opening a renovated reservation office, he said last year was difficult for railways, however, prudent policies adopted by the incumbent government and its flawless implementation enabled Railways earn Rs 5 billion while chasing a target of Rs 2.5 billion.
It was for the first time that Railways achieved its revenue target and surpassed by 100 per cent it during last nine years, Anjum Pervaiz said.
He said a sum of Rs 40 billion had been allocated for railways for the fiscal year 2014-15 to bring improvement in Railways system to provide better and convenient travelling facilities to passengers.
He disclosed that 60 new engines would join the Railways fleet by December this year while tenders were being issued to acquire another 75 new engines with major emphasis on coal-powered engines.
He explained that 50 of them would be coal-powered engines of 4500 Horse Power, more powerful than the existing 3000 HP engines of Pakistan Railways.
He expressed the optimism that Pakistan Railways would be out of crisis situation by August 2014 with regard to upgraded facilities.
He added that passengers would be availing better travelling facilities during the upcoming fiscal year 2014-15 by virtue of addition new engines.
He told that a new train would soon operate from Hyderabad to Mirpur Khas and later a Night Train would be operated on Multan-Lahore route.
Anjum Pervaiz said the incumbent government had improved railways in a year only and that is why it would not be privatised.
He added that Railways Minister, Khawaja Saad Rafiq had already issued a statement in this connection.
He said problems of the Railways employees would be solved during the forthcoming fiscal year 2014-15.
He added that arrears would be paid to employees and new quarters would be built to provide them residential accommodation.
A sum of Rs 180 million had been allocated for Railways Multan division for the purpose, he added.
He said Railways would repair its main line-I from Karachi to Peshawar as part of initiatives for Pak-China Economic Corridor and added that work on it was expected to begin in March next year. He said MoUs had been signed for Pak-China Economic Corridor and a sum of Rs 380 billion would be spent with major focus on improving communications infrastructure ie rail and roads.
PR has cut deficit first time in 4 decades: GM
Computerized signals to be installed on Karachi-Peshawar rail track
22nd July, 2014
Pakistan Railways has embarked upon an ambitious program of installing computerized signaling system on rail track between Karachi and Peshawar to ensure smooth and safe journey.
For this purpose, eight hundred million rupees have been allocated to upgrade old signalling system from Karachi to Peshawar.
On completion of the project, the train will stop automatically in case of red light at any signal which will help reduce accident rates.
Radio Pakistan
Railways to add 100 new locomotives for freight trains
ISLAMABAD : Pakistan Railways is planning to add 100 more locomotives for freight trains by the end of current financial year. “We will bring hundred more engines on trace during current financial year which would help increase the frequency of rail traffic,” an official in the Ministry of Railways told APP.
Capacity of luggage vans had been increased from 10 to 15 tons and initially these new vans were working with Karachi Express, the official added. He said that Pakistan Railways earned more than Rs 6 billion in current fiscal year than the previous year due to proper planning, determination and hard-working.
The official said that administrative discipline, reduction in fare, restoration of freight trains, transparent selling of scrap and revenue collection from other government departments were some of the major actions which had diverted the department towards success.
He said the railways was planning to provide fresh dinner and breakfast to the passengers of Karachi Express train and the price would be in-built in the ticket, adding fresh food would be arranged at Sahiwal, Multan, Haiderabad and Karachi.
APP
Second shipment of 20 rail engines arrive Karachi seaport
August 02, 2014
KARACHI: The second shipment of twenty railway engines for Pakistan Railways has been unloaded at the seaport here, Geo News reported.
Railway officials told that in all 58 railway engines were purchased from China, whose second shipment has now arrived in Pakistan. Officials said that out of the 20 engines 18 have already been unloaded from the ship on the rail track.
Following completion of the legal formalities at the port, Railways department would get the engines cleared and acquire its possession within two/three days.
Railways winning back confidence of passengers
August 04, 2014
ISLAMABAD - After the untiring and appreciable efforts of Federal Minister for Railways Khawaja Saad Rafique and his team, the Pakistan Railways (PR) had succeeded to a great extent in winning the passengers’ confidence which was evident from the priority passengers gave to railways over other public transport on Eid.
The traditional non-compromising attitude of the transporters and passenger-friendly policies of Pakistan Railways attracted a large number of passengers as after several years a heavy crowd of passengers with families were witnessed at different railway stations including Rawalpindi. Passengers are now preferring to travel by train because of appreciably low fares as compared with private transport. “I am thankful to the Railways administration which had run special trains on Eid,” said Asif Mehmood, a passenger returning to Rawalpindi from his hometown after celebrating Eid. Talking to APP he said Eid trains have especially mitigated the suffering of people, adding, high quality services being provided in the trains had won their hearts.
After many years, he had seen well-cleaned trains and efficient staff at the railway station. A Karachi-bound passenger Mohammed Javed told this scribe that he was highly impressed by the punctuality of the trains which was a major issue for the passengers. After more than 10 years, he said, they were travelling by train as timings have been improved and the fare was also considerably less than private transport. It was pertinent to mention that the Pakistan Railways had run 13 special trains on Eid from Karachi, Peshawar, Quetta, Lahore and Multan to facilitate passengers besides reducing fares by 50 per cent for two days on Eid ul Fitr for all classes of all trains. Hafiz Abdul Qayyum, Chairman PR Daily Passengers Association, said the PR had improved its quality and timings under the supervision and leadership of PR Minister Khawaja Saad Rafique.
He said passengers had stopped using railways but after several improvements, they were returning to the PR and their trust in it had restored.
PR General Manager (Operations) Anjum Pervaiz told APP that it was the result of dedication of staff and workers saying that the continuous efforts of the PR minister had played a vital role in achieving the targets. He said the minister’s motivation had made the administration and workers more confident.
Meanwhile, Pakistan Railways was also working on a project to ensure provision of clean drinking water facility to its employees and passengers, said Divisional Superintendent Rawalpindi Syed Munawar Khan.
“Under the project, the facility will be made available in next eight months to all PR employees and passengers across the Rawalpindi Division,” he said.
Railways winning back confidence of passengers
Pakistan Railways earns Rs 23.98bn in FY 2013-14
Aug 15, 2014
ISLAMABAD: From July 2013 to June 2014 Pakistan Railways managed to earn Rs 23.981 billion as against Rs 18.069 billion when compared with the same period of corresponding year. Thus registered and increase of Rs 5.912 billion.
Official documents available with Daily Times revealed that the major portion of earning came from Passenger, where the PR earned Rs 15.401 billion while last year it was Rs 13.183 billion showing a net increase of Rs 2.218 billion. From other coaching, the government earned Rs 1.061 billion while Rs 0.954 billion in the previous year showing total increase of Rs 0.107 billion. From Goods transport, the PR earned Rs 3.508 billion by end of June 2014 while last year it was Rs 1.954 billion showing a net increase of Rs 1.550 billion. From Military Traffic, Pakistan Railways earned Rs 0.518 billion while last year the earning was Rs 0.410 billion showing net earning Rs 0.108 billion. The document further revealed that Pakistan Railways earned Rs 3.493 billion from Sundry while last year it was Rs 1.564 billion showing a net increase of earning Rs 1.929 billion.
The document further revealed that government has taken several measures, which helped to increase PR earning like reduction in fares resulted into attracting extra passengers towards rail that consequently increased the passenger earning as well as other coaching.
Availability of locomotives in freight pool has been enhanced from eight locomotives to 25 locomotives on daily basis that generated activity and made it possible to start three to five freight trains ex, Karachi port daily for up country.
Punctuality of Passenger trains has been improved from 10% to 55% and HSD oil reserve was limited for two days, which has been enhanced to 12 days to streamline the operation of trains.
Punjab government cleared outstanding of more than Rs 800 million and the government has retrieved 211.046 acres of land from the encroachers worth Rs 723.781 million.
A scrap policy to override corruption in the sale of scrap has since been introduced. Scrap will be sold out through open advertised competitive bidding supervised by a committee of Principal Officers to ensure transparency.
Through consistent efforts of Railway Administration and involving Railway and Civil Police, travelling without tickets has been controlled to a large extent.
Theft of electricity in Railway Offices and houses has been controlled by raiding at odd and peak hours. Rs 17 million have been recovered during last six months whereas four FIRs have been lodged against main culprits. Local purchase system is being improved by issuing Procedure Orders to follow the instructions of PPRA (Public Procurement Regulatory Authority) and Stores Codes.
To eliminate the ghost pensioners, automation system for pensioners has been introduced as a pilot project in Lahore and will be expanded to the entire system. Transfer and posting of choice which was a source of corruption by making transfer and posting purely on merit, efficiency and void of any political influence. Allotment of houses another source of corruption and mismanagement has been streamlined and now houses are allotted strictly in accordance with priority list.
Procurements in railways including PSDP portfolio used to be contractor driven and its priority was determined by the contractors. Now the PSDP projects are executed according to the priority of Pakistan Railways in the best national interest.
Pakistan Railways earns Rs 23.98bn in FY 2013-14
Pakistan Railways has come out of crisis: GM
September 1, 2014
LAHORE: The financial position of Pakistan Railways has improved tremendously after passenger and freight sectors attracted commuters and traders respectively after several measures taken by the PR administration.
These views were expressed by newly appointed Pakistan Railways General Manager (Operation), Muhammad Javed Anwar while talking to APP in an interview after assuming office as GM Operation here on Sunday at Lahore Railway Headquarters.
Citing some examples like reduction in fares up to the level of buses, availability of locomotives in the freight sector which made it possible to ply up to 16 cargo trains in a single day, punctuality of passenger trains has been improved from 10pc to 55pc, fuel availability enhanced up to 15 days from zero level to streamline operation of trains and last but not the least several hundred acres of railway land has been retrieved so far, he said and added the PR administration had made an all-out effort to revive the department.
Javed Anwar said that due to strenuous efforts of Minister Khawaja Saad Rafique, PR managed to attract passengers who had left railways and were using road facilities for their travel because of many reasons including easy availability of buses and vans.
He claimed that in his tenure as GM, PR passengers would witness more facilities in near future.
Javed Anwar said that as massive revenue could be generated through cargo trains instead of passengers trains, the department had decided to restore freight trains to the extent of two trains daily from Karachi port to up-country, with hopes of increasing it to 8-10 trains by the end of the current financial year. The step will not only improve the financial position of the entity but also become a source of prosperity for its employees, he said and added that only transport of oil through cargo trains would fetch Rs 4.4 billion annually while around Rs 5 billion revenue could be earned through dispatching export/import containers through freight trains.
He said they had chalked out a plan to promote cargo service rapidly.
For this, we need locomotives. In this regard, a project for rehabilitation of 27 locomotives is also in progress and it is expected that two locomotives a month will be rehabilitated and inducted into freight operations, he added.
Javed Anwar said that though Pakistan Railways had valuable assets worth billion of rupees in the shape of land but unfortunately it was illegally occupied. He, however, claimed that for the last few years, his department had started a campaign against illegal occupants and retrieved around 27,04,750 acres land so far.
He said the department was facing challenges as most railway land had not been transferred to the department and it was still in the provinces names. If the lawful hurdles are removed, Pakistan Railways can earn significant revenue by building shops, markets and plazas on the retrieved land, he added.
To a query, the newly appointed GM Operation said that he did not believe in downsizing. He said he believed in enhancing workload so that all surplus employees could be engaged.
Answering a query, the GM Operations said Lahore-Karachi double track had been completed and would be inaugurated very soon. He said that with the inauguration, speeds of trains would be improved and passengers would reach their destinations on time, he added.
Javed Anwar claimed that he was going to introduce not only a passenger insurance plan like Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) but also a plan to provide life insurance to PR employees.
Pakistan Railways has come out of crisis: GM
Pakistan Railway Projects assigned to NESPAK
Doubling of Railway Track Khanewal
256 Kilometers Dualization of Railway Track will stretch from Khanewal to Raiwind which is second phase of Dualization of Railway Track awarded to Frontier Works Organization. Frontier Works Organization completed first phase from Lodhran to Khanewal within the given time frame The Dualization of Railway Track will facilitate shifting of people and goods from Khanewal to Raiwind and will also reduce the traffic load.
Pakistan Railways to restore Musa Pak, Mehran Express trains
October 9, 2014
LAHORE: Pakistan Railways on Thursday decided to restore two trains: Musa Pak Express and Mehran Express, Radio Pakistan reported.
The restoration was decided during a high level meeting chaired by Railway Minister Khawaja Saad Rafique.
During the meeting, a revised timetable was also endorsed that will be implemented from October 15.
The new timetable states that new stops for several trains have been approved to facilitate passengers.
Musa Pak Express will run between Lahore and Multan. Mehran Express will run between Khairpur and Karachi.
Pakistan Railways to restore Musa Pak, Mehran Express trains – The Express Tribune
