PAKISTAN Railways' woes appear to be never ending. A mixture of neglect, mismanagement and fate has brought this once popular mode of public transport close to the brink of collapse. As reported in this paper, the railways will get Rs37bn less than what it had asked for in the upcoming budget. Over Rs62bn of the total amount the department had requested was meant for subsidies alone, indicating the financial frailty of PR. Several reasons have been cited for lack of revenue generated by the railways, including closure of train services, damage caused by last summer's floods to the railways' network as well as law and order problems, primarily affecting operations in Balochistan. PR officials claim the government has still not compensated the department for losses sustained in the aftermath of violence following Benazir Bhutto's assassination in 2007. These are the most recent factors; over the decades PR has seen its freight business affected by commercial transporters, while inter-city buses have eaten away at its passenger traffic, with infrastructure gradually falling apart.

What the railways needs is a comprehensive plan to nurse it back to health. Unfortunately, such an initiative has not been forthcoming from the state. However, there are certain steps the government can take to try and save PR. Pay and pension should be taken care of by the federal government as is the case with other departments while the allocation for diesel and lubricants should be a flexible amount considering the fluctuating prices of petroleum products in the global market. The government also needs to decide if PR is to be run on a commercial or public-service basis. If the former is true, then perhaps non-viable routes should be suspended until there is a financial turnaround. Most importantly, a one-time investment needs to be made to revamp the railways' network, signalling equipment, locomotives, coaches and other infrastructure. Professional management and tighter oversight should be put in place to ensure improved financial health. Simply ignoring the PR's plight and waiting for it to die would be a huge injustice to the people and their right to have affordable, safe public transport.