LAHORE, April 4: The private company operating the Business Express owed more than Rs76 million up to March 31 to the Pakistan Railways which has sought clearance of all the dues otherwise the agreement will be suspended.

The railways also sought details of the investment the company had made so far for the provision of value-added services to passengers, an officer in the PR headquarters in Lahore told Dawn on Wednesday.

The warning was conveyed to the company management through a letter (No.6-DC/215/2/2012 dated 2.4.2012) despatched by Deputy Chief Commercial Manager Khalid Khursheed Kunwar to M/s Four Brothers Chief Operating Officer Ijaz Ahmad.

The company was bound to pay Rs3,145,507 on daily basis to the railways and make investment of Rs225.786 million in term of value addition to the passengers’ services in five years.

In case the company failed to clear its up-to-date dues, the railways administration would culminate the agreement and would itself take over the passenger facilitation of train without any further notice, said the officer.

The Pakistan Railways had on Aug 18 last year signed an agreement with M/s Four Brothers International (Pvt) Ltd to operate Business Express between Lahore and Karachi as a joint venture under public-private partnership.

Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani had on Feb 3 inaugurated the Business Express while expressing the optimism that the train would set new standards for the public sector to improve its level of performance for sustainable basis.