LAHORE: The Pakistan Railways (PR) has started implementing a project to phase out the several old power plants installed in the express/passenger trains running across the rail network in the country. The work on purchase of new plants and overhaul of the old ones has also begun, according to the Federal Minister for Railways Hanif Abbasi.
“We are all set to procure 16 new plants worth over Rs3bn till December, this year. And currently the works related to bidding, tendering, shortlisting etc are underway these days,” Mr Abbasi said while talking o Dawn on Tuesday.
According to him, the outlived/dead plants are also being passed through an overhaul process under a phased manner. Till March, next year all trains will have new, overhauled and well-maintained plants that will minimise the passenger complaints, he added.
It is worth mentioning that the department has 95 plants out of which 45 are currently in use in various trains whereas the remaining ones are dead. During the last 6/7 years, the PR didn’t pay attention towards proper maintenance of the plants, leaving the passengers with no option but to face issues related to electricity, air-conditioning, lights etc during their journey.
In various incidents, the passenger also suffered due to fire eruption caused by short-circuit, power fluctuation etc. There is also a plan to replace the small plants installed in the local passenger trains. But the work on it has not yet started.
Minister says work on phasing out old plants in trains has started
The minister, to a question, said the project aimed at adding around seven new or overhauled plants into the train operation system.
Meanwhile, the PR management claims to have achieved its highest-ever annual revenue of Rs115bn in the 2025-26 fiscal, registering a 24% year-on-year growth.
It says that the increase in the income/revenue reflects sustained growth across its passenger, freight, and commercial operations.
“The freight revenue rose to Rs41bn (+28 per cent), and Sundry revenue surged to Rs16bn (+91pc), demonstrating broad-based business expansion across all major revenue streams. Cash inflows reached Rs120bn, up 25pc over the previous year, significantly strengthening liquidity, improving working capital, and enhancing financial resilience,” the PR said in a statement.
It further said that the operating cost ratio dropped/improved to approximately 85pc from nearly 99pc in the previous financial year.
The total revenue of Rs115.157bn included Rs50.5bn (passenger trains), Rs3.1bn (other coaching), Rs40.7bn (freight sector), Rs11.9bn (Sundry), Rs1.9bn (scrap), Rs2.1bn (commercial) and Rs316m other sources.
Published in Dawn, July 8th, 2026