PRIVATE-SECTOR companies interested in operating freight or passenger services are invited to attend a ’pre-bid’ conference at Pakistan Railways’ headquarters in Lahore on August 2. Quite what is on offer is not clear, but the move comes hot on the heels of an earlier announcement that PR was to become a corporation by the end of July (RG 7.05 p388).
This fundamental change has been postponed, suggesting that policy is still fluid. Minister of State for Railways Ishaque Khan Khakwani said on July 10 that open access was being contemplated, with infrastructure remaining the responsibility of government and operators paying fees to use it.
Whatever happens in terms of policy, ministers and senior railway managers were forced to turn their attention to other matters on July 14 when a collision involving three trains killed at least 127 people and injured many more. The overnight Quetta Express from Peshawar and Lahore to Quetta had stopped at Ghotki, 684 km from Lahore, at around 04.00 because of a technical problem when it was struck in the rear by the a following train, throwing wreckage on to the adjacent track. This was immediately hit by the Tezgam travelling from Karachi to Rawalpindi, causing further carnage.
PR General Manager Abdul Waheed Awan blamed the accident on the driver of the second train passing a signal at danger. Would-be operators will no doubt be paying close attention to the investigation and the government’s attitude to the incident before making any financial commitment.
