Railway is one of the barometers of the economy. However, the Pakistan railway has been passing through a deterioration process for the last many decades due to negligence and apathy of the government authorities. Dozens of train routes have been suspended or permanently closed and many railway tracks are either stolen or scraped thanks to rampant corruption in the department. Precious land and property worth billions of rupees has been illegally occupied across the country by different mafia groups and millions of rupees are spend annually on Mayo Gardens to renovate the residential area of the senior railway officials. The department was the gift of British raj for the people of subcontinent, sprawling over width and length of the undivided land. Instead of improving the railway tracks or introducing bullet trains after independence, railways started decaying, incurring billions of rupees annual losses.The successive governments have failed to plug the loopholes which are syphoning off the departmental resources or to identify the causes of regression. The situation has reached a point that the whole railway department needs attention and sooner the measures are taken the better. As economy of the country is growing, railway could be used as the cheap source of transportation in import and export of goods.
The government has allocated Rs 42.9 billion under the Public Sector Development Programme to finance new and ongoing projects for the financial year 2017-18.After part of the railways is covered in the China Pakistan Economic Corridor the government has now planned to upgrade the main line rail track between Karachi and Peshawar. According to Railways Minister Khawaja Saad Rafique, the government is in process of negotiation with Asian Development Bank to get a concessionary loan of $2.5 billion to rehabilitate this vital department. Railway was the major service provider of the country at a time, but now has lost its strength. A democratic government is in the office and it is hoped the loan money will be judiciously utilized in the uplift schemes.
The government can invite international tenders to launch bullet train between Peshawar and Karachi on built, operate and transfer basis. This will not only give the best mean of transportation to the citizens, but will also shed traffic burden on highways and motorways.
