ISLAMABAD, Feb 26: The total debt of Pakistan Railways has increased by more than 54 per cent since the current government took over, whereas the net losses faced by railways rose by 18.11 percent during the period March 2008 to January 2013.

The National Assembly was informed that the total debt of Pakistan Railways increased by Rs20.63 billion to Rs58.60 billion in January 2013 from Rs37.93 billion in March 2008 and losses of the state owned entity increased from Rs28.81 billion to Rs34.03 billion in the same period. Minister for Railways, Haji Ghulam Ahmad Bilour, said even foreign loans had increased during the tenure of the incumbent government along with the local debt.

The NA was informed that foreign loans reflected in Pak-Rupees increased from Rs14.14 billion in March 2008 to Rs18.66 billion in January 2013, while the domestic loans jacked from Rs23.82 billion to Rs39.93 billion.

Railways also did not purchase any new locomotive, in fact the number of functional locomotive declined by 226 in the five years since when the current government took over Railways had 406 functional locomotives and by January 2013 the total number had declined to 180.

As the number of locomotives declined and many train services had been suspended, the number of passengers dropped significantly in the five years of the current government.

In the year 2008-09, Pakistan Railways catered 82.54 million passengers, which after a continuous decline, dropped to 41.09 million in 2011-12 as a result the revenue earnings from passengers also fell, from Rs11.83 billion to Rs10.76 billion in the said period.

“The overall performance of Pakistan Railways was not satisfactory due to financial constraints during the said period,” the minister said.

It was informed that the income of Pakistan Railways was Rs23.18 billion in 2008-09 and continued to decline in subsequent years, to Rs22.11 billion in 2009-10, Rs18.61 billion in 2010-11, Rs15.44 billion in 2011-12 and it was Rs8.22 billion in the six months of current financial year.

The NA was also informed that during the said period Rs253 million has been incurred for improvement of railway stations, mainly for improvement of sanitation system at the stations throughout the country.

These steps included washing of platforms, fumigation, cleaning of drains, killing of stray dogs at railway stations, clearing of garbage dumps.