After outsourcing passenger trains, PR decides to lease freight operation.

Byline: Khalid Hasnain

LAHORE -- After opting for outsourcing 24 passenger trains, Pakistan Railways on Thursday decided to lease freight operations and sought proposals from the interested parties under public, private partnership (PPP) mode.

The interested parties, if succeeded in getting such projects after a bidding process under Public Procurement Regulatory Authority rules, would be liable to pay rent of the wagons, locomotive and track access charges to the PR, relieving it of administrative and operational cost and other financial burdens, Dawn has learnt.

'We are inviting the private sector to run our freight trains and pay us the rakes and locomotives rent and track access charges on the basis of the load of goods. In this way we will be free from bearing the cost of staff salaries, fuel, trip maintenance of the rolling stock,' PR Chairman Dr Habibur Rehman Gilani told Dawn on Thursday.

According to a document, which is being floated by a PR's subsidiary Pakistan Railways Freight Transportation Company (PFRTC) to invite the private sector for commercial leasing out of the freight trains within the next few days, the interested parties having requisite expertise, relevant experience, capability and required financial and technical resources dealing with container and other freight handling machinery, have been asked to run two trains daily on a lease basis.

...