LAHORE, July 17 Pakistan Railways announced on Saturday that it would suspend six inter-city passenger trains because its financial losses now stood at Rs23 billion per year.

The Mehran Express, Sialkot Express and a passenger train were discontinued on Saturday. Tezrao and Chiltan expresses will stop operating on July 20 and the Shalimar Express on July 27.

The Railways has already suspended the operation of 76 trains — eight mail/express, 16 inter-city and 52 passenger — also because of financial constraints.

“The suspension of operation of another 26 trains is on the cards as the state-owned organisation is constantly running into losses,” a senior railways official told Dawn. These include 16 inter-city, 10 passenger and four mixed trains running on Lahore-Pakpattan-Samasata, Lahore-Jaranwala-Shorkot, Rawalpindi-Kohat, Malakwal-Khewra and Malikwal-Gharibwal sections.

Mehran Express (149-Up/150-Down) runs between Karachi City and Chhor through Mirpurkhas; Sialkot Express (171-Up/172-Down) between Lahore and Rawalpindi and Sakhi Abbass (263-Up/264-Down) between Okara and Lahore.

Tezrao Express (5-Up/6-Down) runs between Karachi Cantt and Mardan via Rohri, Khanewal, Shorkot, Sheikhupura, Lahore, Lalamusa, Rawalpindi and Nowshera; Chiltan Express between Quetta and Faisalabad through Sibbi, Jacobabad, Kot Addu, Sher Shah, Multan Cantt, Khanewal, Shorkot and Toba Tek Singh and Shalimar Express (27-Up/28-Down) between Karachi Cantt and Lahore via Nawabshah, Sadiqabad, Khanewal and Raiwind.

“More than two dozen up and down freight trains have been standing idle at the Sukkur yard for want of locomotives for the past 15 days, causing a loss to the railways both in terms of revenue and goodwill,” he said.

The official said that closure of uneconomical passenger trains would enable the railways to spare locomotives for freight trains, adding that without the government support it would not be possible for the organisation to operate trains merely to facilitate commuters.

He said the government should clearly define the status of the organisation. “If the railways is a public sector obligation, the government should inject a one-time investment on the pattern of the PIA so that it could buy the required rolling stock and share its losses. And if it is a commercial organisation, then let us close down all the loss-making trains,” he added.

The official said that railways on its part could only ensure timely arrival of passenger and freight trains at destinations if it had the required rolling stock and infrastructure.

“The government has yet to compensate the losses the railways had suffered because of destruction of its rolling stock and infrastructure during the riots after the assassination of Benazir Bhutto,” he added.

APP adds Railways general manager Ashfaq Khattak refused to give a timetable for restoration of the suspended trains and said the organisation was facing a loss of Rs1.5 billion annually because of these trains.

He said that engines of the suspended trains would be used to run freight trains as more than 60 trains were stuck at different stations because of non-availability of engines.