LAHORE: For the last three years or so, the Pakistan Railways (PR) has been losing Rs3.15 million daily by not operating cargo express between Badami Bagh, Lahore, and Karachi.

“The 27-wagon cargo train can earn much more than any passenger train being operated under the public-private-partnership on the same route,” an official of the railways’ commercial wing told Dawn.

The Shalimar Express is paying Rs1,751,934, Night Coach Rs1,731,308 and Business Express Rs2,227,618 per day to the PR while the recently launched container service is not meeting its operational cost yet.

The PR had launched a cargo train between Badami Bagh and Karachi in 1992 by contracting out its idle cargo wagons to private parties on lump sum round-trip per wagon rate basis. After a year, the train route was extended up to Gujranwala on the demand of the business community.

However, the operation of the cargo train was suspended on April 13, 2010, without any reason. Fearing losses, the contractors offered to enhance the per wagon rate but PR authorities preferred to invite fresh tenders.

In the re-bidding process, railways administration insisted on Rs96,600 round-trip charges per wagon against Rs80,000 highest offer by contractors who had to agree the PR demand and an agreement was reached.

The operation of cargo express was again suspended on Aug 1, 2010, again without any justification and the PR authorities asked the contractors to increase the payment to Rs121,720 per wagon and invited fresh tenders, said the official.

After operating for four months or so, the train operation was stopped for the third time with effect from Jan 10, 2011, of course without bothering to give any reason. The affected contractors moved the Lahore High Court and got relief.

In pursuit of the orders of Justice Shujaat Ali Khan, the then general manager (operations) submitted under his Arbitration Award (dated July 10, 2013) that the PR would introduce this train on availability of locomotives preferably from the first week of September 2013.

In the first phase, the cargo train would be operated twice a week and later on daily basis.

“However, instead of implementing the Arbitration Award, the railway administration started adopting delaying tactics – holding meetings with the contractors and making false promises,” said the PR official.

In the first meeting on August 27, 2013, a committee of PR marketing, commercial and accounts officers asked the contractors to enhance the freight charges to Rs130,000 per wagon roundtrip and promised to resume train operations immediately.

In the second meeting, on September 3, the PR authorities informed the contractors that the trains operation would restart from November 1, 2013.

In the third meeting, on October 22, the PR authorities reiterated their resolve to resume the operation of cargo express initially once in a week and to increase its frequency on availability of more locomotives.

“Since January 10, 2011, the PR has been losing a huge amount daily and the railways high-ups seem least interested in utilising the available resources of the organisation to generate revenue,” said the official.