LAHORE: After a decade or so, a total of 16 freight trains left Karachi for various upcountry destinations on Thursday, heralding revival of the much-neglected Pakistan Railways.

"It is a gift from Pakistan Railways to the nation on the 68th Independence Day," PR General Manager (Operations) Anjum Pervaiz told Dawn.

Seven oil specials, two sunflower seed trains, two container special for Premnagar dry port, two trains carrying rails for Samasatta, one coal special for Daudkhel, one rock phosphate train for Machigoth and one train carrying railway material left the Sindh capital for Lahore.

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Railways would earn Rs45,000,000 after resumption of 16 freight trains, said Mr Pervaiz. Freight service is the major source of income for railways worldwide and the Pakistan Railways used to earn most of its revenue from the operation of freight trains from Karachi for various upcountry destinations daily.

An acute shortage of locomotives had in May 2011 forced the railways administration to suspend all cargo trains from Karachi. Suspension of passenger trains and availability of locomotives resulted in restoration of freight service of four trains daily in December the same year. However, the freight service witnessed several ups and downs primarily due to locomotives shortage and the number of freight trains leaving Karachi remained one or two daily.

Railways got a boost as five freight trains left Karachi for upcountry destinations in December last year.

Published in Dawn, August 15th, 2014