LAHORE: The government has ordered winding up of three subsidiaries/companies of Pakistan Railways, directing the respective boards of directors to begin the process with immediate effect.

Since special audit of all these companies has also been ordered, the notifications to wind up the subsidiaries - Pakistan Railways Advisory & Consultancy Services (PRACS), Pakistan Railways Freight Transportation Company (PRFTC) and Railway Constructions Pakistan Limited (RAILCOP) were also issued on Monday, Dawn has learnt.

On the other hand, the authorities concerned have ordered sacking of as many as 75 officials of PRACS with immediate effect, asking them to receive one-month pay in advance under the rules. Likewise, the employees of RAILCOP and PRFTC are expected to be removed from service in the coming days.

“In line with the policy of the federal government and approval of federal minister for railways, the ministry of railways hereby directs the Board of Directors (BoD) to commence the winding up of PRFTC under the relevant provisions of the companies act, 2017,” reads a notification in respect of closure of the PRFTC. Similar notifications were also issued for winding up of PRACS and RAILCOP.

Special audit of PRACS, PRFTC, RAILCOP ordered

Another notification, which was issued a couple of days ago, also showed the door to PRACS’s 75 officials, including deputy director (commercial & IT), qasid, naib qasids, deputy reservation supervisors, reservation & booking assistants, assistant managers, computer operators and assistants.

The PRACS had been created in 1976 as a public limited company under the Companies Act 1913. It showed considerable performance in the fields of railway-related and general consultancy projects. The company is managed by ae board of directors headed by the railway secretary as chairman of the board. The company has its head office in Rawalpindi and two field offices in Lahore and Karachi. The company, so far, completed over 250 assignments related to civil, mechanical, electrical, telecommunication, signal engineering and commercial & transportation disciplines covering feasibility studies, field surveys, and project management including detailed designing/contract management and construction supervision of the projects.

Based in Islamabad and established in 1980, the Railway Constructions Pakistan Limited (RAILCOP) has regional appearance across Pakistan, engaged in infrastructure sector including civil engineering, constructions, innovative engineering, railway equipment manufacturing like track fittings & fastenings, track laying and rehabilitations/upgrade, besides real estate development, and other multi-engineering fields.

RAILCOP’s business scope covers various avenues of engineering disciplines including infrastructure construction, such as railways, highways, municipal facilities, housing and buildings, urban rail transits, water channels for irrigation, etc., besides mechanical, electrical and allied engineering fields.

Similarly, the PRFTC was also established many years ago under objectives to boost the PR’s freight business.

“As per our point of view, these three companies were, in fact, making losses and inflicting a financial burden on the Pakistan Railways. This left us with no option but to wind up these entities,” Railways Minister Muhammad Hanif Abbasi told Dawn. Special audit separately for all three companies has also been ordered. “And this will begin soon,” Mr Abbasi said.

Published in Dawn, April 8th, 2025