LAHORE: Poor response by private cargo companies proved to be another blow to Pakistan Railways’ efforts to earn more when its maiden Parcel Express reached Karachi on Thursday night with 11 empty luggage vans.

“Comprising 13 luggage and one guard-cum-brake vans, the train left Lahore at 11.50pm on Wednesday (Feb 10) and reached Karachi City at its scheduled time on Thursday after stopping at Faisalabad station only,” an official of railways commercial wing told Dawn.

Only three parties got their goods booked for Karachi on the first trip of the Parcel Express paying Rs195,300. Some 14 receipts known as ‘builtee’ were issued to M/s Ittehad Cargo, DCS and Super Rail Cargo for getting 1,070 packets weighing 21,035 kilo booked.

“The variable cost of Parcel Express is Rs347 million. The fixed cost is Rs637m. Variable cost is the expenditure on operating an express train from Lahore to Karachi,” said the official.

A decision to operate this train was taken when none of the 20 potential bidders submitted tenders for the auction of luggage and brake vans attached with eight express trains.

The PR had invited bids for the auction of luggage vans attached with Allama Iqbal Express, Awam Express, Millat Express and Pakistan Express, besides brake vans of Tezgam, Karachi Express, Akbar Bugti Express and Karakorum Express.

A total of 20 parties responded to the advertisements appearing on Dec 6 last year in national dailies and bought bid documents after paying non-refundable Rs10,000 each.

However, all the potential bidders gathered at the Railways Headquarters’ committee room No 2 on Dec 21 last year but instead of handing over their single-stage two-envelop bids to the tender committee, handed over a memorandum to the deputy chief marketing manager, citing their reservations about the `harsh’ terms and conditions in the tender documents.

Published in Dawn, February 12th, 2016