Entrepreneur Project

Submitted To Ms. Zofishan Sehgal

Date submitted: 04/01/2011

Submitted By Yasir Javaid Mb09007

M.Tanveer Ahmad Mb09020

Mazhar Qayum Mb09029

Saeed Ahmad Mb09040

Muhammad Inam Mb09064

Muhammad Sufyan Mb08027

MBA 3rd(Morning)

University of the Punjab ( Gujranwala Campus )

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Acknowledgement

All praises and thanks for Almighty Allah who is entire source of knowledge

and wisdom to mankind. And whose uniqueness, gave me enough courage,

knowledge and ability to accomplish this project.

Thanks are also due to last Prophet Hazrat Muhammad (peace be upon him),

through whom Almighty Allah communicated knowledge to mankind and who

is forever a torch of guidance and knowledge for whole humanity.

I am thankful to honorable Professor Ms. Zofishan Sehgal Who provided us a

chance to enhance my knowledge and guided us at every step during our Master

Degree Program. We really praise to her great efforts. We again extended our

deep gratitude and heartiest thanks to all of them whose creativity, experience,

wisdom, skill, constructive criticism, scholastic approach and valuable

suggestions guided me throughout the preparation of report.

DEDICATION2 | P a g e

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I heartily “Dedicated” all my efforts to our Beloved Mothers. Under their kind prayers, we are able to do all

those things for which others dreamt of……

We pay our Special thanks to Respectful and beloved Professor Ms. Zofishan Sehgal who make me able

to do all efforts with courage.

May Allah bless all those people, who guide us in every difficult and critical

situation.

Vision Statement:

Increasing share in freight and passenger market.

Restoring confidence of the passenger and trading community.

Development of human resource need base coupled with improvement and

development of management, infrastructure and rolling stock.

Encourage private sector in public private partnership, both for development

of infrastructure and train operations.

Diversify all its non-core activities to make them self-sustainable units.

Mission Statement:

To provide a safe reliable, modern, efficient and cost effective

infrastructure to its customers: to contribute in building the economy of

Pakistan and to look after the welfare of its employees.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Particulars Page#

Acknowledgement 2

Dedication 3

Vision and Mission Statement 4

Table Of Contents 5

Introduction 6

Business plan 6

Executive summary 7

Industry analysis 11

Description of venture 24

Operation management 30

Marketing plan 58

Organizational plan 84

Financial plan 88

Appendix 104

Special thanks 106

Bibliography 107

Introduction

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History of Rail Transport:

The history of rail transport dates back nearly 500 years and includes systems with

man or horse power and rails of wood or stone. Modern rail transport systems first appeared

in England in the 1820s. These systems, which made use of the steam locomotive, were the

first practical forms of mechanized land transport, and they remained the primary form of

mechanized land transport for the next 100 years.

As the colliery and quarry tram ways and wagon ways grew longer, the possibility of

using the technology for the public conveyance of goods suggested itself. On 26 July 1803,

Jessop opened the Surrey Iron Railway in south London - arguably, the world's first public

railway, albeit a horse-drawn one. It was not a railway in the modern sense of the word, as it

functioned like a turnpike road. There were no official services, as anyone could bring a

vehicle on the railway by paying a toll.

In 1812 Oliver Evans, an American engineer and inventor, published his vision of

what steam railways could become, with cities and towns linked by a network of long

distance railways plied by speedy locomotives, greatly reducing the time required for

personal travel and for transport of goods. Evans specified that there should be separate sets

of parallel tracks for trains going in different directions. Unfortunately, conditions in the

infant United States did not enable his vision to take hold.

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This vision had its counterpart in Britain, where it proved to be far more influential.

William James, a rich and influential surveyor and land agent, was inspired by the

development of the steam locomotive to suggest a national network of railways. It seems

likely in 1808 James attended the demonstration running of Richard Trevithick’s steam

locomotive Catch me who can in London; certainly at this time he began to consider the long-

term development of this means of transport. He was responsible for proposing a number of

projects that later came to fruition, and he is credited with carrying out a survey of the

Liverpool and Manchester Railway. Unfortunately, he became bankrupt and his schemes

were taken over by George Stephenson and others. However, he is credited by many

historians with the title of "Father of the Railway".

It was not until 1825 that the success of the Stockton and Darlington Railway proved that the

railways could be made as useful to the general shipping public as to the colliery owner. This

railway broke new ground by using rails made of rolled wrought iron, produced at Bedlington

Ironworks in Northumberland. Such rails were stronger.

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This railway linked the town of Darlington with the port of Stockton-on-Tees, and

was intended to enable local collieries (which were connected to the line by short branches)

to transport their coal to the docks. As this would constitute the bulk of the traffic, the

company took the important step of offering to haul the colliery wagons or chaldrons by

locomotive power, something that required a scheduled or timetabled service of trains.

However, the line also functioned as a toll railway, where private horse drawn wagons could

be operated upon it.

This curious hybrid of a system (which also included, at one stage, a horse drawn

passenger wagon) could not last, and within a few years, traffic was restricted to timetabled

trains. (However, the tradition of private owned wagons continued on railways in Britain

until the 1960s.)

The success of the Stockton and Darlington encouraged the rich investors of the

rapidly industrializing North West of England to embark upon a project to link the rich cotton

manufacturing town of Manchester with the thriving port of Liverpool. The Liverpool and

Manchester Railway was the first modern railway, in that both the goods and passenger

traffic was operated by scheduled or timetabled locomotive hauled trains. At the time of its

construction, there was still a serious doubt that locomotives could maintain a regular service

over the distance involved. A widely reported competition was held in 1829 called the Rain

hill Trials, to find the most suitable steam engine to haul the trains. A number of locomotives

were entered, including Novelty, Perseverance, and Sans Pareil. The winner was

Stephenson's Rocket, which had superior steaming qualities as a consequence of the

installation of a multi-tubular boiler (suggested by Henry Booth, a director of the railway

company).

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The promoters were mainly interested in goods traffic, but after the line opened on 15

September 1830, they found to their amazement that passenger traffic was just as

remunerative. The success of the Liverpool and Manchester railway influenced the

development of railways elsewhere in Britain and abroad. The company hosted many visiting

deputations from other railway projects, and many railwaymen received their early training

and experience upon this line.

It must be remembered that the Liverpool and Manchester line was still a short one

(35 miles (56 km)), linking two towns within an English shire county. The world's first trunk

line can be said to be the Grand Junction Railway, opening in 1837, and linking a mid point

on the Liverpool and Manchester Railway with Birmingham, by way of Crewe, Stafford, and

Wolver Hampton.

Introduction of Railways in Subcontinent:

The idea of a rail network was first thought of in 1847, with the possibility of Karachi

becoming a major seaport. Sir Henry Edward Frere, who was appointed as the Commissioner

of Sindh, sought permission from Lord Dalhousie to begin a survey for a Karachi Seaport and

a survey for a railway line in 1858. The proposed railway line would be laid from Karachi

(city) to Kotri. A steamboat service on the Indus and Chenab rivers would connect Kotri to

Multan and from there another railway line would be laid to Lahore and beyond.

On May 13th, 1861 the first railway line was opened to the public, between Karachi (city)

and Kotri, with a total distance of 105 miles (169 km).

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By 1886, there were four railway companies operating in what would become

Pakistan. The Scinde (Sindh) Railways, Indian Flotilla Company, Punjab Railway and Delhi

Railways. These were amalgamated into the Scinde, Punjab & Delhi Railways Company and

purchased by the Secretary of State for India in 1885, and in January 1886 formed the North

Western State Railways, which was later on renamed as North Western Railway (NWR).

This would eventually become Pakistan Railways in 1947.

Another railway line between Karachi and Keamari was opened on June 16th, 1889.

In 1897, the line from Keamari to Kotri was doubled.

By 1898 as the network began to grow, another proposed railway line was in the

works from Peshawar to Karachi. It closely followed the route taken by Alexander The Great

and his army while marching through the Hindu Kush to the Arabian Sea. During the early

20th century, railway lines were also laid down between Peshawar and Rawalpindi and

Rawalpindi to Lahore. Different sections on the existing main line from Peshawar and branch

lines were constructed in the last quarter of 19th century and early 20th century.

In 1947, after Pakistan became an independent state, 1,947 route miles (3,133 km) of

North Western Railways were transferred to Pakistan from British India.

In 1954, the railway line was extended to Mardan and Charsada, and in 1956 the

Jacobabad-Kashmore 2 ft 6 in (762 mm) gauge line was converted into broad gauge. In 1961,

the Pakistani portion of North Western Railways was renamed Pakistan Railways. The Kot

Adu-Kashmore line was constructed between 1969 and 1973 providing an alternative route

from Karachi to northern Pakistan.

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History of Pakistan Railways:

Pakistan Railways provides an important mode of Transportation in the farthest

corners of the country and brings them closer for Business, sight seeing, pilgrimage and

education. It has been a great integrating force and forms the life line of the country by

catering to its needs for large scale movement of people and freight.

The possibility of Karachi as a sea port was first noticed in the mid of 19th century

and Sir Henry Edward Frere who was appointed Commissioner of Sind after its annexation

with Bombay in 1847 sought permission from Lord Dalhousie to begin survey of sea port. He

also initiated the survey for Railway line in 1858 . It was proposed that a railway line from

Karachi City to Kotri, steam navigation up the Indus /Chenab up to Multan and from there an

other railway to Lahore and beyond be constructed.

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It was on 13th May,1861 that first railway line was opened for public traffic between

Karachi City and Kotri, the distance of 105 miles. The line between Karachi City and

Keamari was opened on 16.6.1889.By 1897 the line from Keamari to Kotri was doubled. The

railway line from Peshawar to Karachi closely follows Alexander’s line of March through the

HinduKush to the sea. Different sections on existing main line from Peshawar to Lahore and

Multan branch lines were constructed in the last quarter of 19th century and early years of

20th century.

The 4 sections i.e.Scinde railways, Indian Flotilla company Punjab railway and Delhi

railways working in a single company were later on amalgamated into Scinde, Punjab &

Delhi railways company and was purchased by the Secretary of State for India in 1885 and in

January, 1886 it was named North Western State Railways which was later on renamed as

North Western Railways. At the time of partition, North Western Railway’s 1847 route mile

was transferred to India leaving route miles 5048 to Pakistan. In 1954 The railway line was

extended to Mardan and Charsada section and in 1956 Jacababad-Kashmore 2’-6’’ line was

converted intbroad gauge.Kot Adu-Kashmore line was constructed between 1969 to 1973

providing an alternate route from Karachi to up country.

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(01) May 1974:

'Pakistan Western Railway' was renamed 'Pakistan Railway'

(02) 1974: Pakistan’s second Dry Port is established at Karachi.

(03) April 30, 1975:

Karachi Tramway got closed down.

(04) July 22, 1976:

'Samjhauta Express' was inaugurated as a daily service between Pakistan and India.

(05) 1977:

A plan was made for Karachi Mass Transit system that envisaged the development of a circular railway with branch lines into the suburbs like a system of arteries. In addition, there was to be a part-subterranean, part-elevated spine that bisected the circle. This way, Saddar and other residential areas would have been linked to the commercial centers. The plan was later shelved.

(06) 1982:

Dalmia Cement Factory, Industrial Rlwy was closed in Karachi

Kohat - Thal NG was closed.

(07) 1984:

Pakistan’s third dry-port is established at Quetta

(08) 1985:

Bostan to Zhob Narrow Gauge line was closed down.

(09) 1986:

Pakistan’s fourth dry port is established at Peshawar.

(10) 1988:

Pakistan’s fifth dry port is established at Multan.

(11) January 5, 1990:

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Worst accident of Pakistan Railway’s history occurred at Sangi station. Bahauddin Zakari Express drove into an oil special train. Almost 300 people perished in this accident. Ba

(12) 1990:

Pakistan’s sixth dry port is established at Rawalpindi.

(13) June 7, 1991:

In an accident at Ghotki station, Tezgam drove into a parked freight train.

(14) 1993:

Pakistan Locomotive Factory at Risalpur was put into service in 1993 with the collaboration of Government of Japan at a total cost of Rs.2284.00 million including a foreign exchange component of Rs.1496.00 million. The rated out put of the factory was 2 Diesel Electric Locomotives per month on a single shift basis

Train service was stopped on Sindh's feeder lines connecting Mahrabpur Junction to Tando Adam Junction via Moro, Naushahro Feroze and Sakrand Jn.

(15) 1994:

The daily service of 'Samjhauta Express' gets suspended for two weeks and resumes as a weekly service

(16) 1995:

Head End Power Generation was introduced on PR trains. It ensures proper working of lights and fans during prolonged halts too.

(17) May 15, 1996:

Newly renovated railway station of Gujranwala is inaugurated.

(18) March 3, 1997:

6 Down Zulfiqar Express meets an accident at Meer Shah station on Lodhran-Khanewal route. More than 175 people perished.

(19) October 15, 1998:

Faisalabad Express running between Karachi Cant and Faisalabad was converted into daily service instead of alternate day.

(20) April 15, 1999:

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A night coach service was introduced between Multan Cant and Lahore which covered the journey in 5 hours.

(21) October, 1999:

The Diesel Engine inventory of PR in October 1999 stood at 579. Passenger Coach inventory was at 2029

(22) Dec 15, 1999:

Karachi Circular Railway got closed down.

(23) January, 2000:

In January 2000, PR’s freight wagon inventory stood at 25708.

(24) October 15, 2001:

'Shah Rukne Alam Express', a day train between Karachi Cant and Multan is inaugurated

(25) Dec 31, 2001:

'Samjhauta Express' service between Pakistan and India got closed down.

(26) January 25, 2002:

Karachi City Government proposes a 3-phase track extension plan for KCR. The first phase comprises improvement of the KCR between Drigh Road and City Station via Wazir Mansion, which would include up-gradation of tracks, signaling system, improvement and relocation of stations and miscellaneous advancement works. This phase also calls for an initial train frequency with an interval of every 15 minutes, and provision of rolling stock.

The second phase comprises of laying additional spurs in North Karachi, North Nazimabad and other areas.

In the third phase, additional tracks would be provided between Landhi and City Station and double tracks would be laid on the entire KCR network.

(27) April 15, 2002:

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A new Karachi to Lahore express via Pakpattan is introduced. The name of the train is Fareed Express.

Sind Express running between Karachi and Jacobabad via Rohri Jn is discontinued.

(28) April 22, 2002:

Awam Express gets a refurbished rake today

(29) April 25, 2002:

A refurbished steam locomotive is placed as a display at Peshawar Cant Railway Station as part of the centennial celebrations of the NWFP

(30) June 15, 2002:

Summer Vacation Special was introduced for the first time between Karachi and Lahore.

(31) August 14, 2002:

The inauguration run of 41Up/42 Down Karakoram Express happened on this day. The whole train is imported from China and covers the 1211 km Karachi-Lahore distance in 15 hours and 20 min.

(32) September 16, 2002:

An express train plunged off a railroad bridge at Damboli killing at least 16 people and injuring another 55. Eight cars of the train derailed as the bridge collapsed. The accident cut Quetta off from the rest of the country. The accident occurred at 10 a.m. local time at Damboli, an area 150 kilometers (100 miles) west of Quetta. The train was traveling from Rawalpindi to Quetta.

(33) May 2003:

Work started on track dualization between Lodhran Jn to Khanewal Jn via Multan Cantt. Lodhran Jn to Shujabad dual track is scheduled to finish by March 2005.

(34) June 3, 2003:

A new station called Rashidabad is inaugurated. Rashidabad is located between Tajpur Nasarpur Road and Tando Allahyar stations on Hyderabad – Mirpur Khas route.

(35) July 2003:

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Pakistan receives 8 completely built 3000hp locomotives (DPU30) from Dahlian, China.

(36) August 7, 2003:

Faisalabad Station gets connected to the Computerized Ticketing network

(37) Sep 2003

Pakistan receives 7 completely built 2000hp locomotives (DPU20) from Dahlian, China.

(38) 2003:

Pakistan Railway Heritage Point museum is set up at Golra Sharif Jn.

(39) Jan 15, 2004:

401 Up/402 Down 'Samjhauta Express' starts twice a week service between Pakistan and India after a closure of two years.

(40) March 4, 2004:

A 45-service counter computerized Reservation office is inaugurated at Karachi Cant. Cost of building this office is 18 million Rupees

(41) April 27, 2004:

23 Chinese built freight wagons arrive in Pakistan. The wagons can carry 60 tons weight at 90kmph speeds.

(42) May 5, 2004:

5 Up Tezrau derails near the Khudabad crossing, 1/2 km from the Tando Adam station.

(43) May 13, 2004:

New Rake of Jaffer Express is inaugurated at Rawalpindi Railway Station. The train comprised of newly imported Chinese coaches with three lower AC coaches and four economy class coaches with head end generation. Each lower AC coach has a capacity of 54 berths and nine seats and each economy class coach has a capacity of 51 berths and nine seats. With the introduction of new rake the train will run four times a week on every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday from Rawalpindi to Quetta. From Quetta to Rawalpindi will run on Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday.

(44) Aug 1, 2004:

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Non-Stop services between Lahore and Rawalpindi called the 'Islamabad Express' and 'Lahore Express' were introduced with the rake comprising of Chinese coahes. It covers the Lahore - Rawalpindi distance in 3 hours and 45 minutes.

(45) September 8, 2004:

The travel time of 147 Up Islamabad Non Stop and 148 Down Lahore Non Stop was reduced by 15 minutes. These trains now cover 289 km distance between Lahore and Rawalpindi in 3 hrs and 30 minutes. It gives an average speed of 82.5kmph.

(46) October 13, 2004:

Sukkur got connected to the National network of Computerized Ticketing.

(47) November 9, 2004:

17 up / 18 down Millat Express inaugurated as a new non-stop train between Karachi Cant and Faisalabad. The rake comprises of 8 economy and 2 lower AC bogies imported from China.

(48) December 15 2004:

A new train called Multan Express is inaugurated. The train has a Multan-Faisalabad route. It comprised of Chinese coaches.

(49) February 2005:

The Dpu30s' 6101 to 6108 & 6111 are grounded or are being used to haul freight load as it has a lower speed. It is said that the platform mounting of the nine Chinese built locomotives have developed cracks, forcing them out of service.

(50) March 5, 2005:

By this date a total of 9 locomotives which were imported from china in 2003 are now withdrawn from service after their structures develop cracks.

(51) March 8, 2005:

Karachi Circular Railway restarts its operation on the mainline. 5 Up and 5 down daily trains are started.

(52) April 19, 2005:

Ground breaking ceremony takes place to convert the meter gauge track between Mirpur Khas Jn and Khokhrapar to Broad gauge.

(53) May 15, 2005:

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For the first time in the history of NWR/PWR/PR, the summer time table comes in force a month late from its scheduled April 15 date. The reason being delay in the construction of an underpass between Lahore and Lahore Cant stations, which meant trains kept running according to old time table for a month to reduce confusion.

(54) May 19, 2005

Karachi Circular Railway service extended to Wazir Mansion station. The service now runs between Wazir Mansion and Dabheji stations.

(55) July 13, 2005:

In one of the worst accidents of PR history, three trains Karachi Express, Tezgam and Quetta Express collide at ‘Sarhad’ Railway Station in upper Sindh province. 17 coaches are destroyed. 128 people die and 170 are injured.

(56) August 1, 2005:

The PR conducted the first trial run of the fast train on a newly-laid 40 kilometer track between Sher Shah Jn and Shujabad. The train achieved a record speed of 142 km per hour.

(57) August 5, 2005:

Gujranwala station becomes the 15th station to get connected to the computerized ticketing network

(58) August 2005:

Steam Safari starts between Rawalpindi and Golra Sharif Jn. Service is every Sunday. The Railway Heritage Museum at Golra Sharif also opens every Sunday.

(59) September 13, 2005:

Bahawalpur station becomes the 16th station to get connected to the computerized ticketing network

(60) November 15, 2005

Fifteenth DPU30 locomotive rolls out of Risalpur factory and is handed over to the Pakistan Railways.

(61) November 28, 2005:

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Samjhauta Express running between Lahore and Atari is made a twice-weekly service as compared to a weekly service before. The two service days are Monday and Thursday

(62) December, 2005:

Pakistan completes conversion of Mirpur Khas Jn (Pakistan) to Munabao (India) from Meter Gauge to Broad Gauge. Khokhrapar to Munabao portion of the track is laid brand new after it was uprooted in 1965.

At the end of 2005, PR owned 29 Electric Locomotives, 551 Diesel Locomotives, 23722 freight wagons and 1843 passenger coaches.

(63) January 5, 2006:

Rohri Jn became 18th station to get connected to Computerized Ticketing Network.

Pakistan and India decide to open the Khokhrapar-Munabao rail border from Feb 1, 2006 and run a new train called ‘Thar Express’ on this route.

(64) January 29, 2006:

Lahore Express on its down run between Rawalpindi and Lahore derails near Domeli station. 6 bogies fell off track with a loss of life.

(65) January 31, 2006:

Pakistan and India decide to open the Khokhrapar-Munabao rail border from Feb 18, 2006 and run a new train called ‘Thar Express’ on this route. Earlier opening date was Feb 1, 2006

(66) February 4, 2006:

10 coaches of the Lahore- bound Karakoram Express were derailed with four of them being overturned on early Saturday. The accident occurred between the stations of Samasata Jn and Kalanchwala. A woman was killed and 37 other passengers were injured.

(67) February 10, 2006:

At least 17 containers and an engine of two goods trains of the Pakistan Railways (PR) were badly damaged in an accident between the Meting and Bholari railway stations in Thatta district. Six of the wagons were reduced to ashes. 400ft long track was also damaged.

(68) February 15, 2006:

11up/12down Chenab Express is renamed as Hazara Express with a Karachi-Sragodha-Rawalpindi-Havelian route.

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(69) February 17, 2006:

405 Up and 406 Dn Thar Express starts its simultaneous journey from Karachi and Jodhpur respectively.

(70) February 18, 2006:

Thar Express from Pakistan crosses into India and comes back, thus establishing the second rail link between Pakistan and India since 1965.

(71) February 28, 2006:

Nawabshah Jn became 19th station to get connected to Computerized Ticketing Network.

(72) April 6, 2006:

Rahimyar Khan became 20th station to get connected to Computerized Ticketing Network.

(73) May 22, 2006:

A new train with Lahore-Rawalpindi route and called the 105 Up/106 Dn Margalla Express is inaugurated.

(74) June 7, 2006:

A new train called Marvi Express is inaugurated. Marvi Express has Mirpur Khas to Khokhrapar route and stops at all the stations in between.

(75) July 24, 2006:

A new nonstop train called Sindh Express is inaugurated. Sindh Express has a Karachi-Lahore route.

(76) July 29, 2006:

Due to torrential rains a bridge located between Dabheji and Ran Pethani stations and called Gangar Bridge is damaged and train traffic stops between Karachi and upcountry. A temporary diversion is opened on August 5 and trains start operating again.

(77) August 14, 2006:

A new train called Burraq Express is inaugurated between Karachi and Rawalpindi

(78) August 19, 2006:

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Thar Express starts service with a rake supplied by Indian Railways. PR supplied the rake for the first six months of Thar Express operation.

(79) November 20, 2006:

PM Shaukat Aziz inaugurates the 72 km dual track between Lodhran Jn and Sher Shah Jn.

(80) December 5, 2006:

Peshawar Express is inaugurated to run between Rawalpindi and Peshawar. The train stops at Attock and Nowshera and covers the distance between Rawalpindi and Peshawar in 3 hours.

(81) December 16, 2006:

PM Shaukat Aziz inaugurates a new train called Pakistan Express with a Karachi-Faisalabad-Wazirabad-Rawalpindi route.

(82) Jan 8, 2007:

A new Karachi to Rawalpindi train called Jinnah Express is inaugurated by Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz.

Discription of venture:

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INTRODUCTION TO PAKISTAN RAILWAYS

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Pakistan Railways is the state-owned railway company of Pakistan. It is a large organization

under the administration of the Pakistani Government's Ministry of Railways. Pakistan

Railways provides an important mode of transportation in the farthest corners of the country

and brings them closer for business, sightseeing, pilgrimage and education. It has been a great

integrating force and forms the life line of the country by catering to its needs for large scale

movement of people and freight. The current chairman is Mr. Shakil Durrani.

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It was on 13 May 1861, that the first railway line was opened for public traffic

between Karachi City and Kotri, a distance of 105 miles (169 km). The line between

Karachi City and Kiamari was opened on 16 June 1889. During 1897 the line from

Keamari to Kotri was doubled.

The railway line from Peshawar to Karachi closely follows Alexander’s line of march

through the Hindu Kush mountains to the Arabian Sea. Different sections on the

existing main line from Peshawar to Lahore and Multan and branch lines were

constructed in the last quarter of 19th century and early years of 20th century.

The four sections, i.e., Scinde (Sindh) Railways, Indian Flotilla Company, Punjab

Railway and Delhi Railways, working in a single company, were later on

amalgamated into the Scinde, Punjab & Delhi Railways Company and purchased by

the Secretary of State for India in 1885, and in January 1886, it was named North

Western State Railways, which was later on renamed as North Western Railway.

At the time of independence, 1,947 route miles (3,133 km) of North Western

Railways were transferred to India, leaving 5,048 route miles (8,122 km) to Pakistan.

In 1954, the railway line was extended to Mardan and Charsada, and in 1956 the

Jacobabad-Kashmore 2 ft 6 in (762 mm) gauge line was converted into broad gauge.

In 1961, the Pakistani portion of North Western Railways was renamed Pakistan

Railways. The Kot Adu-Kashmore line was constructed between 1969 and 1973

providing an alternative route from Karachi up the country.

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Proposals

In 2007, contracts were let for studies into a link between Pakistan and

China via the border crossing near Kashgar. A line to the deepwater port

of Gwadar is also proposed.

Major Routes

The total length of railway tracks in Pakistan is 5,072 miles (8,162 km).

The busiest routes include:

Peshawar-Karachi

Peshawar-Quetta

Lahore-Sialkot

Lahore-Faisalabad

Faisalabad-Khanewal

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Major Stations and Junctions

The major stations and junctions between Peshawar and Karachi include:

Peshawar,Darya Khan,Mianwali,Bhakkar,Kaloorkot Nowshehra Jn., Attock city,

Rawalpindi, Jhelum, Lalamusa Jn., Gujrat, Wazirabad Jn., Gujranwala, Lahore,

Lahore Cantt., Raiwind Jn., Okara, Sahiwal, Chichawatni, Mianchannu, Khanewal

Jn., Multan cantt., Lodhran Jn., Bahawalpur, Samasatta Jn., Khanpur, Rahim Yar

Khan, Sadiqabad, Pannu Aqil Cantt., Rohri Jn., Khairpur, Bhiria Road, Nawabshah,

Tandu Adam, Hyderabad Jn., Kotri Jn.,Jangshahi, Landhi Jn., Karachi cantt. and

Karachi City. The major stations and junctions between Peshawar and Quetta are:

Peshawar to Rohri Jn. (same as above), Sukkur, Shikarpur, Jacobabad Jn., Dera

Murad Jamali, Sibi Jn., Ab-e-Gum, Mach Spezand Jn and Quetta

Passenger Traffic

Passenger traffic comprises 50% of the railway's total revenue. During 1999-2000,

this amounted to Rs. 4.8 billion. Pakistan Railways carries 65 million passengers

annually and daily operates 228 mail, express and passenger trains. The number of

passengers carried daily is thus about 178,000. Pakistan Railways also operates

special trains during occasions like congregations of the Dawat-e-Islami and the

Tableeghi Ijtima.

Freight Traffic

The Freight Business Unit, with 12,000 personnel, operates over 200 freight stations

on the railway network. The Unit serves two major ports of Karachi and Bin Qasim as

well as all four provinces of the country and generates revenue from the movement of

agricultural, industrial and imported products, Petroleum Oil & Lubricants (POL),

wheat, coal, fertilizer, rock phosphate, cement, container traffic and sugar. About 39%

of the revenue is generated from the transportation of POL products, 19% from

imported wheat, fertilizer and rock phosphate. The

remaining 42% is earned from domestic traffic.

The Freight Business Unit offers services to meet

customer requirements and reduce costs through

efficiency, innovation and modernization. All possible

efforts are made to increase revenues and pass on the

benefits to customers. The Freight Business Unit is headed

by an additional General Manager.

The Freight Rates structure is based on market trends,

particularly of road transport, which is the Railways' main

competitor. The freight rates are no longer rigid but

flexible, depending on the lead, peak-off peak season, and

quantum offered.[citation needed.

Pakistan Locomotive Factory, Risalpur

Pakistan Railways Headquarters in Lahore, Pakistan.

Pakistan Railways Headquarters in Lahore, Pakistan. The

Pakistan Locomotive Factory at Risalpur, a public spread

on an area of 251 acres, was put into service in 1993 with

the collaboration of Government of Japan at a total cost of

Rs.2284.00 million, including a foreign exchange

component of Rs.1496.00 million. The factory can

produce two diesel-electric locomotives per month on

single-shift basis, but this can be doubled by introducing a

second working shift. The factory is equipped with the

state-of-the-art equipment which can be employed in the

building of diesel-electric locomotives of suitable

horsepower, as well as electric locomotives with minor

adjustments.

Since 1993, twenty three PHA-20 type 2,000 hp diesel-

electric locomotives have rolled out of the factory. The

ongoing project of 3,000 hp AGE-30 diesel-electric

locomotives is at the verge of its completion, which is a

milestone in the history of the factory. Apart from

manufacturing new locomotives, the Pakistan Locomotive

Factory has also successfully rehabilitated five diesel-

electric locomotives of GRU-20 Type and manufactured

other various spares/components for railway maintenance

divisions and rehabilitation projects.

OPERATION MANAGEMENT

Pakistan Railway comprises 8,775 route km, 707 stations and 37 trains halts. It has a

fleet of 563 diesel electric locomotives, 25,815 wagons and 1,623 passenger coaches.

Maintenance is provided by three major locomotive workshops and thirty-five smaller

workshops. Signaling facilities at important stations are track circulated within

interlocking limits. Most routes have VHF radio coverage for communication

between train dispatchers and trains. Telephone Communication is over wire lines and

microwave.

ROUTE AND TRACK LENGTH:

GAUGE ROUTE KM TRACK KM

Broad Gauge 7,718 11,344

Meter Gauge 445 555

Narrow Gauge+ 611 726

TOTAL 8,774 12,625

RAILWAY ANNOUNCE NEW TIME TABLE

On Sunday, November 01, 2009

The Pakistan Railways has introduced a new train between LahoreóMalakwal and has

restored the Subak Raftar between LahoreóRawalpindi in addition to limiting the

number of train stops at the Cantt railway stations for security reasons.

According to a press release on Saturday, the destination of the Sukhur Express has

been curtailed at Karachi City instead of going all the way to the Karachi Cantt.

Similarly the Shah Rukn-e-Alam Train has also been stopped at Karachi City instead

of Karachi Cantt. In another such measure, the Khyber Mail, Awami Express, Quetta

Express and Farid Express have all dispossessed of their stoppages at the Lahore

Cantt Station.

The new timetable will be enforced from November 1 (today). The PR has made

major changes in operations and routes of the trains, rerouting the Quetta Express

through KhanewalóLodharan instead of Multan. The timetable also governs the

extension of the routes of Sakhi Abbas Passenger Train

whose route has been extended till Okara instead of

Pattoki.

The Millat Express has also been given an extension in the

route making it go till Sargodha instead of ending its

journey at Faisalabad. The Tezgamís stoppages at Kot

Lallo, Gujarat, Wazirabad and Chaklala have been

eliminated.

The Bahawalpur express has lost its stop at Chutiana and

the Hazara Express lost the Kot Lallu stop.

However, new stops have been introduced including Bolan

Mail’s stops at Bakhtiarabad Domki and Dera Alayar;

Tezroís stops at Shorkot Cantt, Landi and Drig Road; the

Hazara Expressís new stops at Kotri; Karachi Expressís

stops at Kotlakhpat Landhi; Millat Express at Drig Road;

Shalimar Expressís stops at Kot Lakhpat Drig Road and

the Super Expressís stops at Liaqatpur and Phularwan. The

Sangla Shuttle service, which operated between

Faisalabad and Sangla Hill, has been cancelled besides the

FaislabadóSargodha A-Shuttle service and B-Shuttle

service. The shuttle train between Lahore and Lalamusa

has also been shut down. The 101 up/ 102 down

Islamabad Express has been renamed to Subak Raftar.

The 109 up/ 110 down shuttle train has been renamed

Margala Express. 06:30 and 04:45 time has been provided

during night and day time to start at least nine and six

trains respectively from the Karachi Port area.

According to the new schedule, the Khyber Mail will

depart from Karachi at 2200 hrs to reach Peshawar at 640

hrs. The Bolan Mail will leave Karachi city at 1700 to

reach Queatta at 1410. Tezro will leave Karachi cantt at

2100 hrs to reach Mardan at 0400 hrs. Tezgam will depart

Karachi at 1700 hrs to reach Islamabad at 2015 hrs.

The Allama Iqbal Express will leave Karachi at 1450 hrs

to reach Sialkot at 1540 hrs. Hazara Express will depart

Karachi at 535 hrs to reach Hwailiyan at 1330. The

Awami Express will depart from Karachi Cantt at 730 for

Peshawar at 1720 hrs. The Korakaram Express will leave

Karachi Cantt at 1600 hrs to reach Lahore at 1015 hrs. The

Subak Raftar will reach Rawalpindi 1230 after leaving

Islamabad at 0730 hrs.

Railways need 410 locomotives for daily operations:

Minister says automatic signalling system to be installed

on Karachi-Lahore track by mid-2010Staff Report

Railways Minister Ghulam Ahmed Bilour said the

Pakistan Railways needed 410 locomotives for day-to-day

operations, but had only managed to purchase 122

locomotives during the last 20 years.

Talking to reporters at his office, the minister said

Railways was doing everything to mitigate human errors

in the future and implementing systems that would make a

train stop automatically, even if a driver ignored a red

signal. He said an automatic signalling system would be

installed by mid-2010 on the Karachi-Lahore track.

The system would be imported from Sweden or Canada

through a loan from the Islamic Development Bank. The

minister said successive governments had failed to pay

attention to improving the condition of Pakistan Railways

and one of the key reasons for the deteriorating stae of

affairs of the department was the inconsistent policies of

successive governments. “Governments have invested

more on developing a road network and little importance

has been given to the needs of the railways,”

Bilour said.

“We are even operating some 40-year-old locomotives,”

he added. “We receive complaints every day that a

particular train broke down due to technical fault in a

locomotive.” Bilour said Pakistan exported locomotives to

Bangladesh in 1992, but now the country has been reduced

to importing locomotives. The minister said rail tracks

were in dilapidated conditions at various places, adding

that the government was not investing in improving rail

tracks, which resulted in longer travel times for short

journeys. Bilour, however, avoided questions regarding

the operational losses and corruption in the railways. He

said all efforts were being made to improve the rail cargo

service. “We are opening our doors to the private sector

and plans are underway to outsource some operations.”

Regarding the recent train accident in Karachi, the

minister said it was caused by human error.

TRAINS OF PAKISTAN RAILWAY

An Introduction

1. Allama Iqbal Express (9 Up/10 Dn)

Named after the national poet of Pakistan, Mohammad

Iqbal. The word 'Allama' means 'scholar'. The train is so

named because it has a Karachi-Sialkot route and Sialkot

is the birth place of Allama Iqbal.

Interestingly, for atleast 40 years, Allama Iqbal Express

was called 'Shaheen Express' (mid-1950s to mid-1990s).

The word 'Shaheen' means 'Falcon' in Urdu and Allama

Iqbal in his poetry always referred to falcon as a creature

with high moral character (as it never eats a dead animal,

lives high on the mountains, etc.). The Shaheen Express

also had a Karachi-Sialkot route via Faisalabad.

The Allama Iqbal express currently runs on the Karachi-

Lahore-Sialkot route. Current accommodation available

on this train includes First Class Sleeper and Economy.

2. Awam Express (13 Up/14 Dn)

'Awam' means 'people' in Urdu, so this is the People's

Express. It always had a Karachi-Peshawar route, and now

shares the honour of having the longest running route

(1721km) in Pakistan along with the historic Khyber Mail.

PR's first three-tier second class sleepers were introduced

on the Awam Express. Many politicians have used the

Awam Express (fewer than have used the Khyber Mail,

though) to run their country-wide political campaigns.

Accomodation available on this train is AC Lower and

Economy.

3. Badar Express (109 Up/110 Dn)

4. Ghauri Express (107 Up/108 Dn)

'Badar' means 'Moon' in Urdu. It runs Lahore - Faisalabad

- Shorkot Cantt. Jn. (249km) in the Up Direction and

Faisalabad - Lahore (142km) in the Down Direction.

'Ghauri' Express is named after the first Muslim Ruler of

India, Mohammad Ghauri, and has the same route as the

'Badar Express'. Accomodation on both trains is AC

Parlour, and First Class Sitter. Both of these trains are

unusual as each has different Up and Down routes (which

are, however complementary). The two trains share rakes.

This 'rake sharing' works as follows:

4:10 hrs: 108 Dn Ghauri Express starts its journey from

Shorkot Cant Jn. It passes through Faisalabad and

continues towards Lahore.

7:50 hrs: 108 Dn Ghauri Express reaches Lahore.

9:15 hrs: 107 Up Ghauri Express starts its journey towards Faisalabd.

11:00 hrs: 107 Up Ghauri Express reaches Faisalabad and

terminates there, even though it had originated from

Shorkot Cant Jn in the morning.

15:15 hrs: The rake of Ghauri Express now becomes the

Badar Express and it starts its journey towards Lahore as

110 Down.

17:00 hrs: 110 Down Badar Express reaches Lahore.

18:00 hrs: 109 Up Badar Express starts its journey towards

Faisalabd. It does not terminate at Faisalabad eventhough

it had originated there, but continues towards Shorkot

Cant Jn.

21:40 hrs: 109 Up reaches Shorkot Cant Jn. The rake rests

here overnight and the next morning the whole cycle starts

again.

5. Bahauddin Zakaria Express (25 Up/26 Dn)

This train has the 92km long Karachi City - Multan Cantt route.

Multan is one of the oldest living cities in Pakistan and a home to the shrines of many saints and learned people. Bahauddin Zakaria (1182-1266) was one such saint who lived in Multan. Since this train has Multan as one of its termini, it is named after him. The accomodation on this train include AC Sleeper, First Class Sleeper and Economy. 6. Badin Express (307 Up/308 Dn)

Badin is the largest city south-east of Karachi with a

population of ~70,000. Badin Express takes the Kotri Jn -

Hyderabad Jn - Badin route and is the only train that

currently goes to Badin.

The Hyderabad - Badin track on which Badin Express

plies was opened on Aug 15, 1904. The line was later

dismantled during World War I as the rails were needed

elsewhere. In 1922 the track was rebuilt to its present

alignment. An extension of this line across or around the

Rann of Kutch, to meet the Bombay Baroda and Central

India Railway and to afford through communication

without break of gauge from Sindh (Pakistan) to Bombay

(India) was considered but never materialised.

Badin Express is currently an all Economy class train.

7. Bahawalpur Express (143 Up/144 Dn)

Named after Pakistan's 13th largest city, Bahawalpur, this

train has a 487km run from Samasata Jn to Sialkot Jn. The

train originates from Samasata Jn instead of Bahawalpur,

probably because of better train handling facilities at

Samasata Jn.

The train route is Samasata Jn - Bahawalpur - Khanewal

Jn (via Chord) - Faisalabad - Wazirabad Jn - Sialkot Jn.

Accomodation on this train includes 1st class Sitter and Economy.

8. Baluchistan Express (31 Up/32 Dn)

This train is currently the fastest rail link between Karachi

and Quetta. It takes the Karachi - Sukkur - Quetta (850km)

route and it currently takes 16 hours and 5 minutes to

cover this distance.

The Karachi - Quetta distance via Sukkur is 14km shorter

than via Larkana. Bolan Mail takes the latter route.

Baluchistan is the name of Pakistan's largest province by

area. Accomodation available on Baluchistan Express

includes AC Sleeper, AC Lower annd Economy.

9. Bolan Mail (3 Up/4 Dn)

Named after the famous 'Bolan Pass' in Baluchistan

province, this train is one of the most historic trains on the

PR network. It connects Karachi with Quetta via Larkana

(857Km).

Currently it is not the fastest linking between Karachi and

Quetta as it takes more than 20 hours to cover this

distance. The reason for its low speed is the bad track

quality between Kotri Jn and Habib Kot Jn via

Dadu/Larkana Jn.

Bolan Pass itself is 60 miles (100km) long and has a

maximum altitude of 5,880 ft (1,792 m). The pass is

strategically located and many traders, invaders, and

nomadic tribes coming from western and central Asia used

it as a gateway to India.

Accomodation available on Bolan Mail includes AC

Sleeper, First Class Sleeper and Economy.

10. Chenab Express (11 Up/12 Dn)

The Chenab Express is named after River Chenab. Chenab

is one of the five famous rivers of the Punjab (literally, '5

waters') province. The Chenab is also associated with the

folk stories of Sohni-Mahinwal and Heer-Ranjha.

The Chenab Express, when inaugurated, had the route of

Karachi - Faisalabad - Sargodha - Attock City - Peshawar.

Later the route changed to Karachi - Faisalabad - Lala

Musa - Rawalpindi - Peshawar, and these days it runs

Karachi - Faisalabad - Rawalpindi.

This train is known for other 'experiments' carried out on

its route. To reduce the burden on Karachi City and

Karachi Cant stations and to utilize the fast decaying

'Karachi Circular Railway' track, Chenab express once

orginated from a Karachi suburban station, Manghopir.

The empty rake of the train was brought to Manghopir

from Karachi City daily as there is no washing line or

maintenance facility at Manghopir, and then the rake was

sent up-country via the KCR route.

11. Chiltan Express (21 Up/22 Dn)

'Chiltan' is the name of one of the three large craggy mountains that surround Quetta

valley, the other two being 'Zarghun' and 'Koh-I-Murdar'. Since Chiltan Express has

Quetta as one of its termini, it is named after one of the region's prominent geological

landmarks.

This train used to have a Quetta-Lahore route via Dera Ghazi Khan and Kot Adu Jn.

This route opened in 1973, hence the Chiltan Express likely started operations on or

after that year.

Over the years the route of the Chiltan Express has been varied many times by

running it between Quetta and Peshawar via Faisalabad, between Quetta and

Rawalpindi via Lahore, and these days between Quetta and Lahore via Faisalabad.

12. Dachi Express (221 Up/222 Dn)

The word 'Dachi' in Punjabi language means 'camel'. Why this train is called a Camel

Express is not clear to me. It used to be one of the premier trains and one of the fastest

between Lahore and Faisalabad covering 142km in three hours. Since the late 1990s

the Lahore-Faisalabad distance is now being covered in about 1 hour 50 minutes by

quite a few non-stop trains and the Dachi Express has lost its importance. It is now a

slow passenger with 19 stops on its Lahore-Faisalabad route and 14 stops on its

Faisalabad-Lahore route. On the Lahore-Faisalabad Up route it is classified as an

Express and on the Faisalabad-Lahore Down route it is classified as a Passenger. This

train has been mentioned in the famous Urdu writer Ibn-e-Insha's book 'Urdu ki aakhri

kitab' ('The last book of Urdu') where while describing a camel Ibn-e-Insha says that

the camel was also called a 'Dachi' but that these days railway men have put wheels

under it and made it an express. That book was first published in 1971 which means

the Dachi Express has been running at least since 1971. I don't know its exact date of

inauguration.

13. Faisal Express (111 Up/112 Dn)

Faisal Express is one of nine daily trains that run between Lahore and Faisalabad. It is

also one of the fastest trains on this route, covering the 142km distance in 105 minutes

in the Up direction and 110 minutes in the Down direction. Inaugurated in 2001, it is

also a relatively new train on this route.

14. Faisalabad Express (35 Up/36 Dn)

Faisalabad Express is currently the fastest train running between Karachi and

Faisalabad. It covers the 1095km distance between Karachi and Faisalabad in 15

hours 35 minutes in the Up direction and 15 hours 45 minutes in the Down sirection.

It started in the late 1990s as a non-stop train between Karachi and Faisalabad with

only operational stops at Rohri Jn and Khanewal Jn, but now it has five and seven

stops in between on the Up and Down journeys respectively. The accommodation

available on this train includes AC lower and Economy.

15. Fareed Express (37 Up/38 Dn)

Baba Freed Shakar Ganj (1173-1266 AD) was a saint who lived and preached in the

area east of Multan-Lahore axis. After his demise Baba Fareed was buried in the town

of Pakpattan. Since Fareed Express has a parallel route east of Multan-Lahore main

line and since it also serves Pakpattan city, the train has been named 'Fareed

ExpressÂ'.

Fareed Express started its operation in 1996. It has a 1248km long route between

Karachi City and Lahore via Pakpattan. From Karachi to Lodhran Jn it runs on

mainline, then diverts east on a branch line towards Vihari. It passes through towns of

Mailsi, Arif wala, Pakpattan, Kasur Jn and joins the mainline again at Raiwind Jn to

continue its journey towards Lahore. Fareed Express is presently one of the slowest

trains on the PR network covering 1248km in 23 hours and 30 minutes in the Up

direction and 23 hours and 15 minutes in the Down direction. It currently has 33 stops

between Karachi and Lahore. The accommodation available on Fareed Express

includes First Class Sitter, Economy and 2nd Class.

16. FAST (325 Up/326 Down)

The name 'FASTÂ' is probably a misnomer on this not-so-fast train. It has a 142km

Lahore-Faisalabad route with 17 stops in between and covers this distance in 3 hours

and 15 minutes in Up direction and 3 hours and 50 minutes in Down direction.

For comparison, the Fastest train on this route presently covers this distance in 1 hour

45 minutes.

17. Islamabad Non Stop (147 Up)

Currently the fastest train on Lahore-Rawalpindi route. It covers 289km in 3 hours

and 30 minutes. It started its operation on Aug 1, 2004 covering Lahore-Rawalpindi

distance in 3 hours and 45 minutes and from Sept 8, 2004, fifteen more minutes have

been reduced from its travel time. Its rake consists of Chinese coaches.

18. Lahore Non-Stop (148 Dn)

The same rake that travels in the morning as 147 Up Islamabad Non Stop comes back

to Lahore in the evening as 148 Down Lahore Non Stop. Travel time remains same at

3 hours and 30 minutes in either direction.

19. Jaffar Express (39 Up/40 Down)

Jaffar Express is named after Mr. Jaffar Khan Jamali who was one of the prominent

Baloch leaders of the Pakistan movement. He was among the first few Baloch leaders

who whole-heartedly supported Mr. Mohammad Ali Jinnah in the Pakistan

movement. Mr. Jaffar Khan Jamali was also the uncle of ex-Prime Minister of

Pakistan, Mr. Zafarullah Khan Jamali.

Jaffar Express started its operation on May 13, 2004 (when Mr. Zafarullah Khan

Jamali was the Prime Minister of Pakistan) and it was the second train on PR network

with its full rake consisting of Chinese coaches. Here is a photo of its inaugural

DOWN run from Rawalpindi station.

Currently Jaffar Express has a 1494km route between Quetta and Rawalpindi via

Sukkur and Lahore. It covers this distance in 27 hours 20 minutes in the Up direction

and in an even 27 hours in the Down direction. It has 18 stops between Quetta and

Rawalpindi.

The rake of Jaffar Express consists of three lower AC coaches and four economy class

coaches with head end generation. Each lower and nine seats and each economy class

coach has a capacity of 51 births and nine seats.

20. Karachi Express (15 Up/16 Down)

Karachi Express is one of the oldest and most prestigious trains on PR network. As is

obvious, it is named after Karachi, the largest city of Pakistan and also the former

capital city. Karachi Express started its operation in the late 1940s with a Karachi City

to Peshawar Cantt route. The route was later shortened to Karachi-Lahore. Over the

years it lost its earlier prestige and became a regular express train with more than 20

stops at one point in time between Karachi and Lahore. In 2000 the train regained

some of its lost glory, as it was upgraded to a 16-hour non-stop service between

Karachi and Lahore (with one technical stop at Khanpur Jn). In the year 2001-02

Hyderabad Jn, Rohri Jn and Khanewal Jn were added to its stops. Currently it has one

more stop added to its route at Sahiwal. It now covers Karachi Cant to Lahore

1214km distance in 16 hours 30 minutes in the Up direction and in 16 hours 45

minutes in the Down direction.

21. Karakoram Express (41 Up/42 Down)

Named after the lofty peaks of Karakoram Mountains, it was the first train to run on

PR network that consisted completely of Chinese-made coaches. Since Karakoram

Mountains form the common border between Pakistan and China, the train is

accordingly named to highlight the Pak-China friendship.

It is currently the fastest train running between Karachi and Lahore and covers the

1214km distance in 16 hours in either direction.

Here is a photo of the Karakoram Express seen in Lahore suburbs.

22. Khushhal Khan Khattak Express (19Up/20 Down)

This train is named after arguably the most famous poet and a famous chieftain of

North West Frontier Province (NWFP), Khushhal Khan Khattak. Khushhal Khan was

born near Peshawar in 1613. By appointment of the Mughal emperor, Shah Jehan, he

became the chieftain of the Khattak tribe in 1641, but Aurangzeb, Shah Jehan's

successor, because of some misgivings removed Khushhal Khan from his hereditary

AC coach has a capacity of 54 position, and kept him a prisoner in the Gwalior

fortress in Delhi. After Khushhal was permitted to return to Peshawar he incited the

Pashtuns to rebel against the Mughals. His grave carries the inscription: 'I have taken

up the sword to defend the pride of the Pashtun, I am Khushhal Khattak, the

honorable man of the age.' Khushhal Khan Khattak was a learned man, having scores

of books or manuscripts to his credit. There was hardly any discipline that he did not

delved into. Religion, philosophy, mysticism, lexicography, medicine, hunting and

falconry, war and aesthetics -- all came under his scrutiny. The Khattak tribe of

Khushhal Khan now lives in the areas of Kohat, Peshawar, and Mardan.

Since 19Up/20 Dn Khushhal Khan Khattak Express has a Karachi to Peshawar route,

it is named after this great poet of the NWFP.

At 19 letters, this train also has the longest name among all the trains running on PR

Network.

The accommodation available on this train includes First, Economy and Second

Classes.

Khushhal Khan Khattak Express takes a route between Karachi City and Peshawar

Cant which mostly runs on the West Bank of River Indus. It travels on mainline

between Karachi to Kotri Jn and then takes a branch line via Larkana Jn to Habibkot

Jn. From Habibkot Jn it follows mainline to Jacobabad Jn. From Jac¡¥obabad Jn it

takes another branch line route via Kashmore, Rajanpur, Dera Ghazi Khan, Kot Adu

Jn, Kundian Jn, Mianwali, Jand Jn, Basal Jn to Attock City Jn. From Attock City Jn to

Peshawar Cant it follows the mainline again.

As of summer 2004, Khushhal Khan Khattak Express has 1512km run between

Karachi City and Peshawar Cant which it covers in 36 hours 40 minutes in the Up

direction and 36 hours 45 minutes in the Down direction. It also has 59 stops between

its termini. This makes it the slowest running express between Karachi and Peshawar.

23. Khyber Mail (1 Up/2 Down)

Khyber Mail is Pakistans oldest and the most prestigious train. It is named after the of

Pakistan. Khyber Pass has historically connected Central Asia with the Indian

Subcontinent. Today it connects Afghanistan with Pakistan. Khyber Mail's name has a

'mail' suffix because historically this train used to distribute local postal mail along its

route. From my childhood I remembera red-colored postal mail full of mail sacks

attached to the Khyber Mail. I believe that postal mail is not attached to Khyber Mail

any more but the train still keeps its name as a mail train.

Khyber Mail is also the train that has been most written about in railway literature

about Pakistan. Paul Theroux for one has traveled and written about Khyber Mail in

most of his rail travel books.

Before Independence, Khyber Mail had an ancestor, the 'Frontier Mail' which ran on

Bombay Central (India) -- Peshawar route. After 1947, on the Indian side, 'Frontier

Mail' continued its operation on a curtailed Bombay Central -- Amritsar route while

on the Pakistan side it was renamed as 'Khyber Mail' with a Karachi to Peshawar

route.

An even earlier account of a predecessor of both Frontier Mail and Khyber Mail

comes from Mr. Hal Waters' and Mr. S. Shankar's web page on NWR. It is from 1909

and calls for a 'Peshawar Mail' sighting near river Jhelum. I have not been able to

confirm whether this 'Peshawar Mail' was the same as 'Frontier Mail' or a different

train.

At present Khyber Mail has the longest running route in Pakistan, which is 1721km. It

currently shares this honor with 13Up/14Dn Awam (People) Express. Khyber Mail is

however, the fastest train link between Karachi and Peshawar.

As of summer 2004, Khyber Mail covers 1721km distance between Karachi Cant and

Peshawar Cant in 31 hours 55 minutes in the Up direction, and 32 hours 5 minutes in

the Down direction. It stops at 45 stations between Karachi Cant and Peshawar Cant.

I have a PR time table of 1959. Interestingly, forty-five years ago Khyber Mail had

only 24 stops between Karachi City and Peshawar Cant. And amazingly enough it

covered this distance with steam locomotives in 32 hours 25 minutes which is only 20

minutes slower than that of 2004. Should we conclude that not much has changed

speed wise for Khyber Mail in half-a-century? A clue to this stagnancy in rail

famous Khyber Pass which is located in the 'North West Frontier Province' (NWFP)

modernization comes from Paul Theroux book 'The Imperial Way -- by Rail from

Peshawar to Chittagong' where while traveling by Khyber Mail he writes (pp 9-10):

I had returned (to Pakistan) to take this long trip (Peshawar-Lahore via Khyber Mail)

to see what had changed. I had noticed very few changes¡K. The railway is one of

the most traditional of institutions and, for better or worse, it runs in Pakistan pretty

much the same way as it always ran. The odd thing is that throughout the Sub-

continent the railway seems so profoundly part of the culture that it hardly seems

related to the industrial age but instead seems as ancient as India itself. The roads and

airports come and go, but nothing seems as indestructible as the railway.

The accommodation on Khyber Mail has historically been the best. I do remember

that up until the early 1980s Khyber Mail had a 'buffet' Dining Car attached to it.

Dining Car is still attached to the train but it is not the buffet style anymore and food

is now served at the passenger seats. From his 1975 trip to Pakistan and while

traveling by First Class Sleeper of Khyber Mail, Paul Theroux has written in his book

'The Great Railway Bazaar' (pp 81):

It had not taken long to find my compartment (on Khyber Mail). My name was on the

door, printed large on a label! I had every thing I needed. The compartment was large,

well-lighted, and comfortable, with a toilet and sink in an adjoining room; I had a

drop-leaf table, well up-holstered seat, mirror, ashtray, chrome gin-bottle holder, the

works.

The current accommodation available on Khyber Mail includes AC Sleeper, First and

Economy Class.

24. Lala Musa Express (137 Up/138 Down)

This train is named after the city of Lala Musa which is an important junction on PR's

main line. Lala Musa Express has a 147km long route between Lala Musa Jn --

Sargodha Jn. As of summer 2004, it covered this distance in 3 hours 40 minutes in the

Up direction and in 3 hours and 30 minutes in the Down direction. It stops at 17

stations between Lala Musa and Sargodha. The only accommodation available on this

train is Economy Class. The rake of Lala Musa Express is shared by Malakwal

Express too, which is introduced below.

25. Malakwal Express (135 Up/136 Down)

Malakwal Express is named after the city of Malakwal which was once a very

important junction and steam loco bastion in Western Punjab. Malakwal Express has

exactly the same route as of Lala Musa Express which was introduced above. Since

Malakwal Express shares its rake with Lala Musa Express so it also only one

accommodation available i.e. Economy Class. It covers its 147km long route in 3

hours 40 minutes in up direction and 3 hours 45 minutes in down direction. It has 18

stops in up direction and 16 stops in down direction between its termini at Lala Musa

Jn and Sargodha Jn.

The single rake sharing between Malakwal Express and Lala Musa Express takes

place according to the following time table:

135Up Malakwal Express Sargodha Jn dep 0500135Up Malakwal Express Lala Musa Jn arr 0840138Dn Lala Musa Express Lala Musa Jn dep 1035138Dn Lala Musa Express Sargodha Jn arr 1405137Up Lala Musa Express Sargodha Jn dep 1515137Up Lala Musa Express Lala Musa Jn,arr 1855136Dn Malakwal Express Lala Musa Jn dep 1945136Dn Malakwal Express Sargodha Jn arr 2330

The rake is washed and rested at Sargodha Jn overnight.

26. Lasani Express (125 Up/126 Down)

The word 'Lasani' in Urdu language means 'one of its kind'. This 'one of its kind'

express runs between Lahore Jn and Sialkot Jn via Narowal Jn. It has a 148km route,

which it covers in 3 hours 45 minutes in both directions. It has 13 stops between

Lahore and Sialkot and the only accommodation available on this train is Economy

Class. This train provides a convenient day trip to Lahore to the business community

of Sialkot. It has an early morning run from Sialkot to Lahore and a late afternoon run

back to Sialkot.

27. Mari Indus Express (329 Up /330 Down)

Mari Indus Express is named after the town of Mari Indus. It is also one of the oldest

branch line trains on PR Network. It has been running on Lahore -- Mari Indus route

since the 1950s. At that time it was called Mari Indus Passenger and was later

upgraded to an express. It has a 429km route in either direction with a peculiar detour.

After reaching Chak Jhumra Jn on its up journey, it instead of turning towards Mari

Indus, takes a 19km detour to Faisalabad. It has a 30-minute stop in Faisalabad before

it comes back to Chak Jhumra Jn and then continues towards Mari Indus. The same

sequence is repeated on itÂ's down journey too.

As of the summer 2004 time table, Mari Indus express covers Lahore to Mari Indus

distance in 12 hours 35 minutes in up direction and 12 hours and 30 minutes in down

direction. This time also includes its 38-km and 75-minute detour to Faisalabad.

It has 34 stops between Lahore and Mari Indus, which also includes stopping twice at

Chak Jhumra Jn in its either way journey.

Accommodation available on Mari Indus express includes Economy and 2nd Class.

28. Mehr Expess (127 Up/128 Down)

Mehr Express is named after the 'MehrÂ' clan of PakistanÂ's Seraiki belt. Since this

train has most of its route spread across Seraiki area of Pakistan, it is named after the

Seraiki speaking Mehr tribe.

Mehr Express has a 572km long route between Multan and Rawalpindi via Kot Adu

Jn, Kundian Jn and Golra Sharif Jn.

As of summer 2004, Mehr express covers this distance in 14 hours 55 minutes in the

Up direction and 14 hours 20 minutes in the Down direction. It stops at 35 stations

between Multan and Rawalpindi.

29. Musa Pak Express (115 Up/116 Down)

Musa Pak Express is named after a famous saint called Sheikh Abul Hassab Musa Pak

who is now buried in Multan City. Musa Pak express has a 335km route between

Multan Cant and Lahore. One peculiar aspect of this train is the difference in number

of stops it has in up and down direction. In up direction, it covers 335km in 280

minutes with only 3 stops in between the termini. In down direction it covers the same

distance in 345 minutes with 13 stops.

30. Narowal Express (209 Up/210 Down)

As the name implies, Narowal Express is named after the city of Narowal. It has an

86km route between Lahore Jn and Narowal Jn. Just like Musa Pak Express, Narowal

Express also has a huge difference in its up and down travel times and number of

stops.

In the Up direction it covers its 86km route in 100 minutes with 4 stops. In the Down

direction it covers the same distance in 130 minutes with 11 stops between its termini.

31. Night Coach (105 Up/106 Dn)

Night coach is named such because of its late night timings in either direction. It is

currently the second fastest train running between Lahore and Rawalpindi. It covers

its 289km route in 260 minutes with 2 stops in up direction and in the same time with

1 stop in down direction. In comparison, the fastest trains on this route (Islamabad and

Lahore Nonstops) cover the same distance in 210 minutes.

32. Pakpattan Express (117 Up/118 Down)

This train is named after a city in Punjab province called Pakpattan and has Samasata

to Lahore route via Pakpattan. Its route length is 438km, which it covers in 11 hours

50 minutes in the Up direction and 12 hours and 20 minutes in the Down direction. It

has 40 stops between its termini, which include Bahwalpur, Lodhran Jn, Mailsi,

Vihari, Pakpattan, Kasur Jn, Raiwind Jn etc.

Accommodations available on Pakpattan Express are first class, economy and second

class.

33. Qalandar Express (165 Up/166 Down)

Qalandar Express is named after a famous saint of Sindh named Lal Shahbaz

Qalandar (1177-1274 A.D). Shahbaz Qalandar's tomb, built in 1356, is located in the

town of Sehwan Sharif. The saint was called 'Lal' because of his red attire, Shahbaz

means falcon, and denotes his free spirit and Qalandar is for the Sufi sect called

Qalandria that he belonged to. The word 'QalandarÂ' itself means a person who

knows oneÂ's inner being or has knowledge of oneÂ's inner spirit.

Qalandar Express has Sehwan Sharif as one of its stops, and it is thus named after the

saint of Sehwan. It has a 284km route between Kotri Jn and Larkana Jn with 25 stops

in between. As of summer 2004, Qalandar Express covered this distance in 7 hours 10

minutes in the Up direction and in 8 hours and 15 minutes in the Down direction.

Some of the main towns that fall on Qalandar ExpressÂ' route include Sann, Sehwan

Sharif, Bhan Sayadabad, Dadu and Moen-jo-daro (famous for the largest excavated

ruins of the 5000-year-old Indus Valley civilization).

34. Quetta Express (23 Up/24 Down)

Quetta Express is named after the city of Quetta, which is also the provincial capital

of Baluchistan. Quetta Express is the only train on PR network, which runs through

all the four provinces of Pakistan. It has a 1631km route with 40 stops between its

termini of Quetta and Peshawar. It covers its route in 34 hours in the Up direction and

in 32 hours 20 minutes in the Down direction.

Accommodations available on Quetta Express are AC Sleeper, First and Economy.

35. Rachna Express (113 Up/114 Down)

In ancient times, the land that lies between two Punjab rivers, viz., River Ravi and

River Chenab was called Rachna Doab. The word doab literally means 'two watersÂ'.

Since this train has a route between river Ravi and river Chenab in Rachna Doab area,

it is named the Rachna Express.

Rachna Express is one of six trains that currently have a Lahore-Faisalabad route. The

route length is 142km and it covers this distance in 175 minutes in the Up direction

and in 170 minutes in the Down direction. It has 10 stops between Lahore and

Faisalabad

36. Ravi Express (121 Up/122 Down)

Ravi Express is named after river Ravi, which is one of the five rivers of Punjab. This

train has a Lahore to Shorkot route, which runs almost parallel to the west bank of

river Ravi.

The route length is 261km and Ravi Express covers this distance in 6 hours in the Up

direction and in 6 hours 5 minutes in the Down direction. The train has 14 stops on its

route.

Some of the important towns on Ravi ExpressÂ' route are Sheikhupura (named after

Emperor AkbarÂ's son Sheikho), Warburton, Nankana Sahab (a holy city for the Sikh

religion), Jaranwala, Tandlianwala, and Kamalia.

Accommodations available on Ravi Express are Economy and Second.

37. Rohi Express (131 Up/132 Down)

The word 'RohiÂ' means 'desertÂ' in Seraiki language. The Seraiki belt of Pakistan is

famous for two deserts, viz., 'Thal' and 'Cholistan' deserts. Because of extensive

irrigation schemes over the years, the Thal desert is now mostly an agriculture land.

The Cholistan desert however, still extends from east of Bahawalpur to the Indian

border.

Since Rohi express has 'Khanpur JnÂ', as one of its terminus and since Khanpur lies

in the heart of Seraiki speaking area, therefore the train is named as 'RohiÂ' or

'DesertÂ' express.

Rohi Express has Khanpur to Rawalpindi route via Shorkot, Jhang, Sargodha and Lala

Musa.

The length of Rohi ExpressÂ' route is 774km. It covers this distance in 17 hours 50

minutes with 38 stops between its termini.

38. Rohri Express (167 Up/168 Down)

Rohri express is named after the city of Rohri. It has a 218km route between Sukkur

and Khanpur via Rohri Jn. It covers this distance in 4 hours in the Up direction and 4

hours 5 minutes in the Down direction. It has 10 stops between its termini.

39. Sandal Express (139 Up/140 Down)

Sandal Express is named after the 'SandalÂ' clan, which has most of its people living

in the Seraiki speaking area in and around Multan. Since this train has Multan to

Sargodha route, it is named after the local Sandal clan of Multan. Sandal Express runs

on its route via Khanewal, Shorkot and Jhang. The route length is 279km, which it

covers in 6 hours 35 minutes in the Up direction and in 6 hours 25 minutes in the

Down direction. It has 21 stops between its termini.

40. Sargodha Express (123 Up/124 Down)

Sargodha Express is named after the city of Sargodha. It runs from Lahore to

Sargodha. The route length is 215km, which it covers in 4 hours 15 minutes in the Up

direction and in 4 hours 10 minutes in the Down direction. It has 15 stops between its

termini.

41. Shah Latif Express (151 Up/152 Down)

Shah Latif Express is named after Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai who is considered as the

greatest poet of Sindhi language. Shah Abdul Latif lived in Sindh during the

seventeenth century. Shah's poetry is unique as it expresses the harmony between

what he saw outside with his naked eyes and what he observed within by his inner

eyes.

Shah Latif Express runs between Karachi city and Mirpur Khas. It has a 246km long

route, which it covers in 4 hours 55 minutes in the Up direction and in 4 hours 40

minutes in the Down direction. It has 11 stops between Karachi City and Mirpur

Khas.

42. Shah Rukne Alam Express (29 Up/30 Down)

Shah Rukn-e-Alam express is named after a saint who lived in Multan. SaintÂ's real

name was Sheikh Rukn-ud-Din Abul Fateh, but he was commonly knows as Rukn-e-

Alam. The word Rukn-e-Alam means 'Pillar of the WorldÂ'. His shrine in Multan is

one of the landmarks of Multan City and has won quite a few architectural awards

too.

Shah Rukn-e-Alam Express is a day train between Karachi and Multan. The train has

a 921km long route, which it covers in 14 hours 45 minutes in the Up direction and in

14 hours 55 minutes in the Down direction. It has 18 stops between Karachi Cantt and

Multan Cantt.

The accommodation available on Shah Rukn-e-Alam Express is AC Parlor, AC

Lower and Economy Class.

43. Shahbaz Passenger (309 Up/310 Down)

Shahbaz Passenger is named after a famous saint of Sindh named 'Lal Shahbaz

QalandarÂ' (1177-1274 A.D). Shahbaz Qalandar's tomb, built in 1356, is located in

the town of Sehwan Sharif. The saint was called 'Lal' because of his red attire, the

word Shahbaz means falcon, which is a bird native to Sindh and denotes his free spirit

and Qalandar is for the Sufi sect called Qalandria that he belonged to. There is another

train called 'Qalandar ExpressÂ' named after Lal Shahbaz Qalandar.

Shahbaz Passenger has a 380km route between Kotri Jn and Rohri Jn via Sehwan

Sharif (resting place of Lal Shabaz Qalandar), Dadu, Larkana Jn and Sukkur. As of

summer 2004, Shahbaz Passenger covered its route in 12 hours 30 minutes with 39

stops between its termini.

Accommodation available on Shahbaz Passenger includes Economy and Second

class.

44. Shalimar Express (27 Up/28 Down)

Shalimar Express is named after the famous Shalimar gardens located in

Emperor Shah Jahan in 1642 for the pleasure of Royal household. Shalimar gardens conform to the classic Mughal conception of a perfect garden and consist of three terraces of straight, shaded walk sets around a perfectly symmetrical arrangement of ponds, waterfalls, marble pavilions, all surrounded by flower beds and fruit trees and enclosed within a wall and more than 400 fountains.

Shalimar Express was inaugurated in 1979 as the fastest train on PR network. At the

time of its inauguration, it covered Karachi-Lahore distance in 16 hours. It started as a

day-train with 6 a.m. departure and 10 p.m. arrival in either direction. Two locos used

to pull it and it was an all AC-parlor train. It had only two technical stops of 20

minutes duration at Rohri Jn and Khanewal Jn all during its 1210km route. Later on

economy class was added to it and its stoppages got increased. At one point its

timings got changed to an overnight train and Multan was added to its stops. Earlier it

used to bypass Multan. These days it is back as a day train between Karachi and

Lahore and runs via chord bypassing Multan again.

It is not the fastest train on Karachi-Lahore route anymore. Its current route length is

1210km, which it covers in 17 hours 15 minutes with 10 stops between its termini.

45. Subuk Khram Express (103 Up/104 Down)

The word 'subuk khramÂ' means 'a person (or a train in our case) with a fast and

delicate style of walkingÂ'. Subuk Khram express was traditionally a rail car. As the

rail car units grew older and number of coaches in the train started increasing, Subuk

khram was converted to an express with a separate diesel loco pulling the rake.

Subuk Khram Express has a 289km route between Lahore and Rawalpindi and as of

summer 2004, it covers this distance in 4 hours 30 minutes with 5 stops between its

termini.

Accommodation available on Subuk Khram express includes AC Parlor and

Economy.

46. Subuk Raftar Express (101 Up/102 Down)

The word 'subuk raftarÂ' means 'a person (or a train in our case) which runs with a

fast and speedÂ'. Just like Subuk khram Express, which was introduced above, Subuk

Raftar express was also a rail car. Both of these rail cars were introduced on Lahore-

Rawalpindi route as a morning and an evening service. As the rail car units grew older

and the number of coaches in the train started increasing, Subuk Raftar was converted

to an express with a separate diesel loco pulling the rake.

Subuk Khram Express has a 289km route between Lahore and Rawalpindi and as of

summer 2004, it covers this distance in 4 hours 30 minutes with 6 stops between its

termini in the Up direction and in 4 hours 35 minutes with 5 stops in the Down

direction.

Accommodation available on Subuk Khram express includes AC Parlor, AC lower

and Economy.

47. Sukkur Express (145 Up/146 Down)

Sukkur Express is named after the city of Sukkur. When first started, it used to have

an overnight run between Karachi and Sukkur. It still has an overnight run, but

extended to Jacobabad Jn.

Its current route length is 555km, which it covers in 11 hours 5 minutes in the Up

direction and in 11 hours 10 minutes in the Down direction. It has 18 stops between

Karachi Cant and Jacobabad Jn including a 30 minutes stop at Sukkur.

Accommodation available on Sukkur Express includes AC Sleeper, First Class and

Economy.

48. Super Express (33 Up/34 Down)

This train was inaugurated as the fastest train link between Karachi and Lahore in the

70s. Hence the name 'SuperÂ' express. However, in 1979 the title of fastest train was

taken over by Shalimar Express and super express became just another train.

Super Express has a unique history of rake splitting too. After its inauguration as a

Karachi-Lahore train, public demand soon grew for a fast train link between Karachi

and Faisalabad also. Extra coaches were added to Super Express and on its up

journey, the rake used to split at Khanewal Jn with some coaches continuing on to

Lahore while the rest went to Sargodha Jn via Faisalabad. On its down journey both

rakes used to meet at Khanewal Jn and coupled together for journey towards Karachi.

This arrangement of rake splitting worked fine for up journey but not so efficiently for

the down journey. On down journey the rake from Sargodha Jn had to travel 277km

and the rake from Lahore had to travel 286km before they colud be coupled together

at Khanewal Jn. Both of these routes were on single track and many a times the split

rakes got late while their other halves had to wait a long time at Khanewal Jn.

Sometimes one of the rakes got so late that they were sent to Karachi as two separate

trains.

As the number of trains running between Karachi and Lahore grew, Super Express

was changed to a total Karachi-Sargodha Jn train with no rake splitting. It continues

as such to date, but it has lost its prestige and fame as a really fast super express. It

now has 34 stoppages between its termini.

Super Express currently has a 1256km route between Karachi and Sargodha via

Faisalabad. As of summer 2004, it covered this distance in 22 hours 25 minutes in the

Up direction and in 22 hours 50 minutes in the Down direction

Accommodation available on Super Express includes First Class and Economy.

49. Tezgam (7 Up/8 Down)

The word 'TezgamÂ' means a 'fast runnerÂ'. Tezgam was inaugurated in 1950s as a

Karachi-Peshawar train. Later its route was reduced to Karachi-Rawalpindi. Just like

Khyber Mail and Karachi Express, Tezgam is also one of the earliest and more

prestigious of the trains on PR network.

Since its inception, it always has been the fastest train link between Karachi and

Rawalpindi. TezgamÂ's route length is 1542km, which it covers in 25 hours and 5

minutes in the Up direction and in 25 hours 55 minutes in the Down direction.

Tezgam currently has 26 stops between its termini.

Accommodation available on Tezgam includes AC Sleeper, AC lower, First Class and

Economy.

50. Tezrau (5 Up/6 Down)

The word 'TezrauÂ' means 'fast waveÂ'. It started as a Karachi-Lahore-Peshawar train but

over the years its route and its name has been experimented a lot. At one point in PakistanÂ's

political history, TezrauÂ's name got changed to 'Zulfiqar ExpressÂ' named after Zulfiqar Ali

Bhutto who was an ex Prime Minister of Pakistan. Its route between Kotri and Rohri was also

changed from Mainline to a branch via Larkana Jn. Larkana was the home city of Zulhiqar

Ali Bhutto. Later on when railway was trying to make best use Karachi Circular RailwayÂ's

dilapidating infrastructure, TezrauÂ's terminal was moved to Gilani station. After that at

some point in time, TezrauÂ's route was made Karachi to Havelian. These days Tezrau is

running between Drigh Road Jn and Rawalpindi.

Its current route length is 1489km which it covers in 29 hours 20 minutes in the Up direction

and in 28 hours 55 minutes in the Down direction. It has 51 stops between its termini.

Accommodation available on Tezrau includes First Class and Economy.

51. Thal Express (129 Up/130 Down)

Thal Express is named after the plains and desert of Thal, which extends west of Multan deep

into South-West Punjab. Since this trainÂ's route is through Thal it is named after it.

Thal express has a 595km route between Multan and Rawalpindi via Kundian and Attock. It

has similar route as Mehr Express except from Basal Jn, Thal Express detours to Attock and

then comes back to Rawalpindi via mainline. It has 39 stops between its termini.

PEST AnalysisWhat is PEST Analysis?It is very important that an organization considers its environment before beginning the marketing process. In fact, environmental analysis should be continuous and feed all aspects

of planning. The organization's marketing environment is made up of:

1. The internal environment e.g. staff (or internal customers), office technology, wages and finance, etc.2. The micro-environment e.g. our external customers, agents and distributors, suppliers, our competitors, etc.3. The macro-environment e.g. Political (and legal) forces, Economic forces, Sociocultural forces, and Technological forces. These are known as PEST factors.

Political Factors.The political arena has a huge influence upon the regulation of businesses, and the spending power of consumers and other businesses. You must consider issues such as:1.How stable is the political environment? 2.Will government policy influence laws that regulate or tax your business?3.What is the government's position on marketing ethics? 4. What is the government's policy on the economy? 5. Does the government have a view on culture and religion? 6. Is the government involved in trading agreements such as EU, NAFTA, ASEAN, or others?Economic Factors.Marketers need to consider the state of a trading economy in the short and long-terms. This is especially true when planning for international marketing. You need to look at:1. Interest rates.2. The level of inflation Employment level per capita. 3. Long-term prospects for the economy Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita, and so on.Sociocultural Factors.The social and cultural influences on business vary from country to country. It is very important that such factors are considered. Factors include:1.What is the dominant religion? 2.What are attitudes to foreign products and services? 3.Does language impact upon the diffusion of products onto markets? 4.How much time do consumers have for leisure? 5.What are the roles of men and women within society? 6.How long are the population living? Are the older generations wealthy? 7.Do the population have a strong/weak opinion on green issues? Technological Factors.Technology is vital for competitive advantage, and is a major driver of globalization. Consider the following points: 1. Does technology allow for products and services to be made more cheaply and to a better standard of quality? 2.Do the technologies offer consumers and businesses more innovative products and services such as Internet banking, new generation mobile telephones, etc?3.How is distribution changed by new technologies e.g. books via the Internet, flight tickets, auctions, etc? 4.Does technology offer companies a new way to communicate with consumers e.g. banners, Customer Relationship Management (CRM), etc

PEST AnalysisPolitical factors:- Since the day Pakistan got its independence, political condition of Pakistan is getting worse day after day and minute after minute. This political instability has led to uncertain environment in the country, which is a threat for any business including railway. So the new investors are now more reluctant to invest in Pakistan and especially in railway. This has also threatened foreign companies operating in Pakistan and they have become more conscious about their future. The ultimate result is no investment by the potential investors in railway. The rules and regulations are changed quite frequently due to change in the successive government that affects the business flow of railway.

Economic factors:- Economic factors can not be excluded for operating any business including railway. Economic conditions are not very sound. The increasing inflation, imposition of new taxes, rising fuel charges and changes in government economic policies have discouraged investment in railway. If Pakistan keeps on getting better grants and loans waivers or if any other economy boosting factor such as controlled inflation rate and economic growth take place, it will benefit the entire industry along with railway.

Social factors:- The social environment has the following factors.

· Attitudes· Desires· Expectations

Attitudes: Due to the lack of good services and advanced technology, people are not optimistic or they have got mixed attitudes about Pakistan railway.

Desires: The basic factor which affects the choices of the people in the society is the desire to show off. This factor has a big influence on the choices of people regarding the selection of particular product or service. In case the people want the most economical packages from Pakistan railway, The company should come up with introducing packages such as low fare for government servants and old people.

Expectations: The expectations of the people are also important. The expectations of the people are very high to meet and fulfill. Goodwill of an entity can be developed by delivering satisfaction to people according to their expectations.Pakistan railway, by giving coverage to non-approached areas and with punctuality of time and good services, need to meet people’s expectations.

Technological factors:- The technological factors are of great importance in any industry like Pakistan railway. At present, Pakistan railway needs to encourage investment to utilize the modern technology and to promote the research and development activities.The most needed technologies of Pakistan railway are:

· Electrical engines · New railway tracks· Setup of such system that improves the efficiency· Online ticketing· System that finds defaults in railway tracks

Marketing PlanOutline For a Marketing PlanIndustry AnalysisCompetitor AnalysisPast Performance Review

This review should reveal the performance of the railway over the past five years in relation to each identified market segment. Performance elements reviewed should include:

The total market volume, or the total transportation volume, in each segment. For example, for Commuter Traffic, this might be the total number of commuter passenger journeys per year and the total commuter passenger kilometres per year, by all modes, within the defined commuter catchment area

The railway system volume and percentage share of the total market volume, in each segment. In the case of the Commuter Traffic example, this would be the number of commuter rail passenger journeys per year, the total commuter rail passenger kilometres per year and the rail percentage share of the total commuter journeys and commuter passenger kilometres (for all modes), within the defined commuter catchment area

The revenue earned, the financial contribution (revenue less long run marginal costs) derived from that revenue, and the contribution rate (e.g. contribution per passenger, passenger km, freight tonne or tonne km) , for each segment. In the Commuter Traffic case, this would be the total fare revenue per year generated by rail commutertraffic within the defined commuter catchment area and the financial contribution attributable to that traffic (i.e. fare revenue less attributable long run marginal costs)

1. Industry Analysis

An efficient transportation system plays a vital role in the economic development of a country Massive investment and development of infrastructure is essential for sustainable economic growth.

Pakistan has a natural geo-strategic location at the peripheral of South Asia and Central Asia. In the south, the Arabian Sea forms a gateway to the vast Eurasia hinterland and makes Pakistan a shortest route for transit trade to the

Central Asian Republics (CARs). Indian trade to the region, in an economical/convenient manner, is also dependent on the availability of passage through Pakistan.

Pakistan’s primary traffic movers Railways as well as Road are concentrated along the South North Corridor linking the Central and the Northern part of the country with Ports and commercial hubs in the south.

In a rapidly growing economy like Pakistan, the need for a reliable integrated transport is acutely felt. The raison d’etre of railways primarily exists for mass transport; where it can be economically viable to survive as a competitive business. Pakistan Railways (PR) has a definite edge over Roads for long haul and Mass Traffic movement both for passengers and freight in addition to a safe, economical and environmental friendly mode of transport.

PR is a Public Sector Organization and provides service through an obligation (PSO) relying on the back up support of the Government. A long beginning since 1861 it once occupied a principal position in land transport in the past.

Pakistan’s transportation network, albeit not as modern and efficient as that of developed countries, is considerably more efficient than it was a decade ago and the growth in demand for transportation services is considerably higher than the GDP. PR is the only enterprise which provides rail services in the country yet much is required of the planners enabling rail transport to catch up with time.

The scale of PR historic debts, exorbitant escalating fuel prices, pay & pension hikes and loss making passenger services are significant constraints limiting scope of investment for infrastructural and services development.

Competitor AnaysisGOVT: PREFERENCES TO ROADS

Road transportation has gained a meaningful edge over Railways due to a priority change by the Government in favour of Roads. Continuous improvement and rehabilitation of road structures reflects the government’s enhanced focus on infrastructure with specific preference to road. While visible progress has been made, key issues and challenges remain to be addressed.

The 22200 freight stock fleet constitutes 84.18 % of vacuum and 15.83% of air brake stock, respectively. 4631 Bogie stock (8 wheelers) though utilized efficiently for longer hauls forms 20.86% of the fleet.

Due to low key investment in rolling stock and infrastructure there has been constant diversion of traffic from rail to road.

Road transport system makes up 90 percent of passenger and 96 percent of freight movement. National Highways and Motorways network. (10,849 km) constitute 4.2% of the road network and carries 90 percent of Pakistan’s total traffic.

The total road infrastructure stretches 260,000 km of which 60% is paved. Road density is 0.32 km/km. An increase of 15.4% has been achieved since 1996-97.

The main arteries along the corridor are the 1819 km long N-5 which serves 80% of Pakistan’s urban population and carries 65% of intercity traffic and the Indus Highway (N-55) an access free, 4 lanes divided facility with a capacity of 66,000 Passenger Car Units

(PCUs) per day.

During 1990-2005 railways share in the freight sector declined from 14% to 4.2%. It did register a recovery in 2000-01 when its freight traffic grew by over 20% as against an average decline of 4.4% in 1990’s.

Competitiors of Railways

Transportation in Pakistan is extensive and varied but still in its developing stages and serving a population of over 170 million people.Construction of new airports, roads, and railway lines have led to an employment boost in the country. Much of Pakistan's road

network (National Highways) and railway network were built before 1947, mainly during the British Raj. In recent years, new national highways have been built, with the addition of motorways which has accelerated trade and logistics within the country. Airports and seaports have been built within the last 30 years with the addition of foreign and domestic funding.

Local Transport

In urban areas there are several means of transport available, catering to a wide range of budgets.

Buses

Domestic

Within cities, buses provide a significant role in commuting a large number of travellers from one point of the city to another. Recently, large CNG busses have been put onto the streets of various cities, primarily Karachi, Lahore and recently Islamabad as minivans which were originally used were beginning to cause large traffic problems. Minivans are private yellow and white minivans that have services throughout cities in Pakistan and are able to get commuters from one point of the city to the other at low-cost. Since 2000 however, the government has taken a comprehensive initiative to modernize the existing bus fleets and minimally impact the environment. This public-private enterprise would gradually introduce 8,000 CNG buses throughout the country and 800 buses in Karachi. This venture will ensure high standards of efficiency and cleanliness[1].

Inter City

Bus service in urban areas and between cities is well established with services run by both public and private sectors. Bus services like Daewoo Express, Kohistan, Khan Brothers, Skyways and Niazi Express have set up modern intercity service which connects to most cities in Pakistan and runs 24 hours a day. Intercity buses tend to be more modern and well kept.

International

International bus services are also well established in Pakistan and connect to various countries:

Quetta -Zahidan, Iran Quetta -Mashad, Iran Gwadar -Zahidan, Iran Karachi -Quetta-Zahidan-Tehran, Iran (proposed) Peshawar -Jalalabad, Afghanistan Peshawar -Kabul, Afghanistan Islamabad -Dushanbe, Uzbekistan (proposed)

Islamabad -Kashghar, China (proposed) Lahore -Delhi, India

Auto Rickshaws

Due to increasing environmental issues with older rickshaws, the government has heavily invested in greener more fuel efficient rickshaws

Cars and Auto-Rickshaws are some of the most common means to travel within a city

Auto rickshaws are a popular method of traveling in cities and are found in almost every city and town in Pakistan. The fare is usually negotiable before commencing a journey, however due to the level of pollution contributed by the auto-rickshaws, the government has recently begun banning older auto richshaws and replacing them with CNG auto rickshaws, which tend to be less noisy, forms less pollutants and are much bigger and more comfortable than the older sets of richshaws. The Punjab Government decided in 2005 to replace two-stroke three-wheelers with CNG-fitted four-stroke rickshaws in Lahore, Multan, Faisalabad, Rawalpindi and Gujranwala. Three manufacturers were ordered to produce 60,000 four-stroke vehicles, but they reportedly supplied 2,000 to the government which were now plying on city roads. Similar ordinances are now being considered in other provinces of Pakistan. A new form of transport in Pakistan is the Qing-Qi (pronounced "ching-chee"), which is a cross between a motorcycle and auto-rickshaw. It runs just like a motorcycle but comes with three wheels instead of two and carries a much heavier load on its back. It is an urban transport vehicle and is used mostly for short distances.

Taxis

Another very common sight seen mainly at hotels and airports are yellow taxis. The drivers charge according to a meter located on the dashboard of the car, but fares can be negotiated if there is no meter. The cab drivers are reliable and will take passengers to any destination required. There are also numerous privately run services that use cars and minibuses of various types throughout Pakistan, providing a reliable and quick means of transport. Recently, the Radio Cab was introduced in Pakistan, which offers riders to call a toll free

number to get in touch with the closest taxi stand. This service is currently offered in Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Karachi, Peshawar and Lahore. Services for Hyderabad and Sialkot are now being made.

Cars

Over the years, the number of cars on Pakistani roads has tripled. Traffic jams are a common scene in major cities across Pakistan. The most popular cars on Pakistani roads are, Suzuki Mehran, Suzuki Cultus, Suzuki Alto, Suzuki Bolan, Daihatsu Coure, Hyundai Santro, Honda Civic, Honda City, Honda Accord, Toyota Corolla and Toyota Vitz. In late 2005, Suzuki introduced the APV (All-Purpose Vehicle) the first luxury family van in Pakistan. Utility vehicles (SUVs or 4x4s) are also a familiar sight in Pakistan. This type of car is very multi functional as it allows long distance and off road travel, within cities as well as city to city travel. The most popular models are the Toyota Land Cruiser, Toyota Prado, Mitsubishi Pajero, Kia Sportage, Land Rover Range Rover, Lexus GX. Adam Revo, Pakistan's first manufactured car, was developed to meet the needs of low income families.

Traditional

The widely used donkey cart is locally known as the Reyri.

In the small towns and farms, many people decide to walk great distances to either get to work or to walk to their nearest grocery store to get their daily shopping. The donkey and cart, locally known as the Reyri, is still visible every where in Pakistan, as people are poor they use this form of transport to shift cargo from one part of a city to the next. The cargo they hold ranges from fruits and vegetables, textiles or machinery that factories require in

industrial cities. The House & Carriage, locally known as Tangahs are mainly seen used for casual travelling around the city. There is one driver, with either one or two horses at the front. This method is now usually used by tourists in the spring and summer that love to see the cities in an open environment. Camel & Cart are also seen from time to time. Mostly seen in the hotter parts of Pakistan including Sindh, Punjab and Balochistan where farmers transport larger cargo that donkey carts can not handle. Bicycles are used by either the poorer society or for leisure. This method is still very widely used as its very economical and simple to run.

SWOT Analysis

An analysis of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats confronting the railway and its major competitors in each market segment is an important element of the Marketing Plan. The purpose of this analysis, generally termed a SWOT Analysis, is to provide as objective an assessment as possible of the competitive status of the railway in each market segment. Factors normally considered in the SWOT Analysis include: the current and projected market shares of the railway and its major competitors; the relative financial strengths of the railway and its major competitors; the price and service sensitivity of demand and the relative abilities of the railway and its competitors to respond to customer price and service requirements; the technological strengths and weaknesses of the railway and its major competitors; and the opportunities presented for product/service diversification. Box VII illustrates an approach to completing a SWOT Analysis at the level of an individual market segment.

In common with the Past Performance Review, the SWOT Analysis must establish an adequate foundation for the formulation of Marketing Objectives and Strategies. For example, the opportunities identified in the case of individual market segments should provide an indication of the sort of objectives and strategies which are likely to be most appropriate for those segments.

It has to be noted that a detailed knowledge of competitors will be essential for the preparation of a good SWOT Analysis.

PEST AnalysisPolitical factors:- Since the day Pakistan got its independence, political condition of Pakistan is getting worse day after day and minute after minute. This political instability has led to uncertain environment in the country, which is a threat for any business including railway. So the new investors are now more reluctant to invest in Pakistan and especially in railway. This has also threatened foreign companies operating in Pakistan and they have become more conscious about their future. The ultimate result is no investment by the potential investors in railway. The rules and regulations are changed quite frequently due to change in the successive government that affects the business flow of railway.

Economic factors:- Economic factors can not be excluded for operating any business including railway. Economic conditions are not very sound. The increasing inflation, imposition of new taxes, rising fuel charges and changes in government economic policies

have discouraged investment in railway. If Pakistan keeps on getting better grants and loans waivers or if any other economy boosting factor such as controlled inflation rate and economic growth take place, it will benefit the entire industry along with railway.

Social factors:- The social environment has the following factors.

· Attitudes· Desires· Expectations

Attitudes: Due to the lack of good services and advanced technology, people are not optimistic or they have got mixed attitudes about Pakistan railway.

Desires: The basic factor which affects the choices of the people in the society is the desire to show off. This factor has a big influence on the choices of people regarding the selection of particular product or service. In case the people want the most economical packages from Pakistan railway, The company should come up with introducing packages such as low fare for government servants and old people.

Expectations: The expectations of the people are also important. The expectations of the people are very high to meet and fulfill. Goodwill of an entity can be developed by delivering satisfaction to people according to their expectations.Pakistan railway, by giving coverage to non-approached areas and with punctuality of time and good services, need to meet people’s expectations.

Technological factors:- The technological factors are of great importance in any industry like Pakistan railway. At present, Pakistan railway needs to encourage investment to utilize the modern technology and to promote the research and development activities.The most needed technologies of Pakistan railway are:

· Electrical engines · New railway tracks· Setup of such system that improves the efficiency· Online ticketing· System that finds defaults in railway tracks

Major competitors:

Daewoo Express or Sammi Daewoo Express is an inter-city common carrier of passengers by bus serving over 30 destinations in Pakistan and is headquartered in Rawalpindi. It is operated by a Korean company, Sammi. Sammi Daewoo Express is a ground breaker in the transport industry of Pakistan as it has introduced innovative trends in road transport.Today, it is the most popular inter-city bus service in Pakistan.

History

A timeline of the operations and beginnings of Sammi Daewoo Express Ltd:

December 1997 - Incorporated

April 1998 - Beginning of Express Bus Operations

November 1999 - Beginning of City Bus Operations

January 2004 - Took Over by Sammi Corporation, Seoul, Korea

December 2007 - Providing Service from 33 cities on 43 destinations with over 200 buses

Services

The previous livery of Daewoo Express, before the takeover in 2004 by Sammi Corp.

Express Bus Service

Sammi-Daewoo Express Bus Service is a main operations of the company. The company provides long distance time efficient bus services to all major cities within Pakistan. With its Headquarters in Lahore the company is operating its service from 31 cities in Pakistan covering more than 40 destinations extending almost to the entire Punjab, Sindh and NWFP. The provides direct competition against airlines as well as the rail netowrk. There are also shuttle/drop off service that run off the main express buses to allow passengers hasstle free travel to their neighbourhood.

City Bus Service

Air-conditioned Daewoo City Bus in Lahore

Sammi Daewoo City Bus

was the first environmental and technological revolution in the urban transport sector within Pakistan. The buses were introduced with more advanced and powerful engines with TECHO Monitoring Systems in 1999. Moreover provision of Air Conditioning, announcement system and stopping signals were introduced. Since 1998, the city bus service has been operating four routes are being operated within the city covering all the localities while two Sub-Urban Routes are being operated for Gujranwala and Sheikhupura.

Cargo Service

Daewoo Express's cargo service are set up adjacent to all terminals and function 24 hours a day, providing safe and quick dispatch and delivery of cargo consignments. The cargo volume has over the years been increasing more rapidly than the expansions of the bus passenger operations.

Destinations

Daewoo Express has over 30 destinations throughout Pakistan:

A Daewoo Express enroute to Islamabad from Lahore, photographed in 2005 in the companies former livery

Balochistan

Quetta Gwadar

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

Abbottabad Batkhela Haripur Karak Kohat Nowshera Mardan Mansehra Peshawar Swat Dera Ismail Khan

Punjab

The Daewoo Terminal in the city of Bahawalpur

The Daewoo Terminal in Sialkot Bahawalpur Bhakkar Bhalwal Chiniot Faisalabad Gujranwala Gujrat Jhang Khanewal Kharian Lahore Layyah Mianwali Multan

Murree Rahim Yar Khan Sialkot Sargodha

Sindh

Karachi Hyderabad Jacobabad Sukkar Moro

Niazi express

Niazi Express is an inter-city common carrier of passengers by bus serving over 20 destinations in Pakistan and is headquartered in Lahore. They are one of the most popular and biggest inter city forms of travel within Pakistan.

Services

Express Bus Service

Niazi Express started its operations as a long distance city to city operator. It provides long distance bus services to all major cities in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. With its headquarters in Lahore the company operates to 21 cities in Pakistan.

City Bus Service

Niazi Express operate a fleet of city buses to cater the mass movements of workers and labourers throughout Lahore.

Destinations

Niazi Express has over 21 destinations throughout Pakistan:

Lahore Islamabad Murree Mansehra Abbottabad Haripur Vehari Mianwali Sahiwal Faisalabad Chishtiaan Ali Pur Multan Bahawalpur

Dera Ghazi Khan Johrabad Khushaab Sargodha Isakhel Skindarabad Chashma barrage Daud Khel Iskandarabad

Customised buses and trucks in Pakistan

Many trucks and buses in Pakistan are highly customized and decorated by their owners. These adorned vehicles are considered as moving art, or jingle art. Because of their unique decor style, these vehicles are quite distinct in layout from other trucks around the world. Each part of the vehicle is decorated differently, with variations depending on the regional style. Although the decorative process is usually very expensive, it is still practiced throughout Pakistan and a few other countries of Central Asia with great zeal and aesthetic zest.

General practice of truck decor

decoration .This decoration includes structural changes, paintings, calligraphy, ornamental decor and more. Mirror work on the front and back of vehicles and wooden carvings on the truck doors are commonly used. Usually, the driver or the owner takes the truck to a coach workshop soon after its purchase for this decoration. The artist embellishes each truck according to the particular tastes of the driver.

The sides of the truck depict different scenes through their adorned artwork and may include metal "decoration pieces" which draw additional attention to the vehicle. [4] The exterior of the trucks are often adorned with poetry.

Decor style of major regions

Karachi is a major bedecking center for such trucks, though there are other hubs in Rawalpindi, Swat, Peshawar, and Quetta . Nearly every city in Pakistan has a unique décor. The Balochistani and Peshawari trucks are heavily trimmed with wood. Rawalpindi and Islamabadi trucks have prominently featured plastic work. Camel bone ornamentation is commonly seen in trucks decorated by Sindh artists. Thus these trucks are also representative of different historical and cultural regions of Pakistan.

Marketing objectives And goals

Making Marketing Objectives Relevant to Customer Needs

In 1992, the National Rail Corporation was formed as a limited liability company to take over the operation of all interstate rail freight traffic from the four state government owned and one federal government owned rail systems in Pakistan. The government rail systems held 100 % of the shares in the new company and contributed the manpower and physical resources (including locomotives, wagons and terminal infrastructure) needed for its operation.

Among other things, the enabling legislation which created the NRC gave the organization commercial freedom to select from all interstate train operating activities those segments of the market in which it wanted to continue to participate and those from which it wanted to withdraw. Exercising this freedom, the NRC made a decision to progressively withdraw from the transportation of general freight in covered vans, or boxcars. This was to be achieved by setting tariffs at punitive levels in order encourage a shift of this traffic out of boxcars and into containers, which were perceived by the NRC to offer better profit potential for the future, as well as by reducing the operating priorities for van traffic.

One significant factor which this decision overlooked was that there was a demonstrated continuing (and growing) demand for transcontinental van services from national freight forwarding companies which owned rail connected warehouses in Melbourne and Perth. These companies had over the years developed efficient services based around the use of vans for directly conveying on behalf of LCL customers palletised cargo between rail sidings at either end of the transcontinental journey. A move into containers did not suit these companies or their customers, given their use of rail connected warehouses and given that the width of ISO containers is sufficient to accomodate 1.9 pallets, or in practical terms only one pallet. The outcome was that at least one forwarding company was able, with the support of the government rail systems, to introduce its own dedicated transcontinental trains on a limited weekly frequency. The company claims that it is not satisfying all of the demand on offer.

This case demonstrates very clearly that railways need to have a good understanding of their customers’ business before committing themselves to marketing objectives and strategies which could deprive them of profitable business in future. In this case, the market challenged the conventional wisdom that containers offer an acceptable answer to the transport needs of all general freight customers and conveyed a message to the railway that customer needs had to be fully understood.

Marketing mix

Marketing Objectives:

As with the other elements of the Marketing Plan, the Marketing Objectives must be market segment related.

It is also essential that these objectives be:

practical and realistic - i.e. capable of being achieved within the likely resource limitations facing the railway

linked to overall Corporate Objectives; and most importantly relevant and responsive to the actual needs of customers

Marketing objectives must reflect the principal thrusts of the Corporate Plan. Two examples of the formulation of marketing objectives in support of overall corporate goals are provided in the contrasting approaches of the pakistan andpak railways to the development of their respective landbanks.

Marketing Strategies:

As with Marketing Objectives, the strategies devised to achieve these objectives must be practical, actionable (realistically capable of implementation) and, above all, relevant and responsive to customer needs. They must also relate directly to marketing objectives identified for each market segment.

Marketing strategies include actions taken to modify elements of the marketing mix - product, price, place and promotion - in order to achieve marketing objectives.

The Indian Railways provides an example of one of the region’s railway systems

which has defined clear objectives for each of its market segments and has then

Action Programmes:

Another important element of the Marketing Plan is the statement of actions needed to put the plan into effect and the assignment of responsibilities for these actions. This feature of the Marketing Plan recognizes the vital role of Marketing in leading and co-ordinating all of the railway activities aimed at delivery of railway services to satisfy customer needs. Thus, actions will be required of all functional departments, but especially the Operations, Mechanical Engineering and Civil Engineering departments, to support achievement of the organization’s commercial objectives. For example, if high standards of locomotive availability are necessary in order support frequent high volume traffics, then the Marketing Plan will require actions on the part of the Chief Mechanical Engineer and his staff to assure the necessary level of availability.

THE RAILWAY MARKETING PLAN

Apart from its importance as the primary source of input of customer related data as well as of traffic and revenue forecasts to the Corporate Plan, the Marketing Plan has a vital role as the vehicle for expression of: the organization’s commercial objectives; the strategies for realization of these objectives; and the actions (with assigned responsibilities) necessary to implement the strategies. Necessarily, the focus of the Marketing Plan is at the level of individual traffic, or market, segments, and indeed an important element of the Marketing Plan is the definition of these segments. Realization of objectives set for individual segments will collectively result in achievement of the overall corporate objectives as identified in the Corporate Plan. A essential requirement of any Marketing Plan is that it must be both practical and actionable.

Market Segmentation

A good Marketing Plan must contain techniques for segmenting the market.

Markets consist of buyers and buyers are not homogeneous in terms of their demographic profiles, wants, purchasing power, geographical location, buying attitudes, and buying practices. Therefore it is unlikely that a broad marketing strategy applied across the entire spectrum of a railway’s customers will succeed, because the needs of some (or probably most) customers will not be met in this process.

By contrast, separate marketing strategies focussed on individual customer

groups, each consisting of customers with similar characteristics and needs, are more likely to succeed. These customer groups are called market segments and the process of identifying and separating these groups for the purposes of developing marketing plans and strategies and of managing sales force activities is called market segmentation.

Any, or all, of the six above -listed characteristics may be used to segment a market. In the case of railways, however, a two-tier process is likely to be involved.

First, the railway’s customers will be segmented into broad market or business groups, such as:

CommuterMedium-Long Distance PassengersFreight CustomersParcels and Express Freight Customer

Others (e.g. advertisers using railway property

Next, these broad groups will be divided into market segments.

For Commuter traffic, it is unlikely that there will be any need for further subdivision of the market, although in the case of a few of the region’s railways (notably that of Indonesia), premium or first class commuter services are provided with the aim of capturing higher income business travellers, who might otherwise use private automobiles.

For Medium-Long Distance Passenger traffic, segments based on demographic/income characteristics may be appropriate. Again, some of the region’s railways have focussed on business travellers9, while some (e.g. the Indian railways) have very successfully targetted group tour travellers and in conjunction with tour and hospitality agencies have developed specialized services to cater for the needs of this segment. Many of the region’s railways have an obligation to provide “welfare significant” services, such as economy class services catering to the needs of low and lower middle income passengers and linking villages with key provincial centres, key provincial centres with other key provincial centres, and key provincial centres with the capital.

Within the higher income, business or tourist segments thus identified in the Medium-Long Distance Passenger market, there may be a further subdivision into service-based segments (e.g. air-conditioned sitting car services and air-conditioned sleeping car services).

For Freight customers, the subdivision into market segments is likely to be based on a combination of commodity type and handling mode (bulk, breakbulk and container). Almost all of the region’s railways now identify container traffic as a segment in its own right. Other segments are mainly commodity-based. For example, in addition to containers, the Thai and Malaysian railways identify about 14-15 commodity based segments and the Indian Railways 10 or 11 commodity based segments. Each freight segment generally has its own requirements in terms of loading/transport cycle, wagon type, handling method and tariff (price). The commodity segments actually identified will be of particular significance to the railway seeking to segment its markets.

While there appears to be no obvious basis for the segmentation of parcels and express freight traffic, it is likely that this market may be subdivided on the basis of time-sensitivity (e.g. overnight delivery, second day delivery, etc.).

The Commercial Property Leasing market will desirably be segmented in terms of end use, e.g. Warehousing, Retail Trade , Office accomodation, Hotel accomodation, etc., and possibly also in terms of lease tenure (short, medium and long term).

Purpose, Structure and Content of the Railway Marketing Plan :The formal Marketing Plan is one of the most important outputs of the marketing

process. As indicated previously, it is desirable, if not essential, that the Marketing Plan should be developed as an integral part of a Railway Corporate Plan, and that it should identify marketing objectives and strategies which will support the achievement of the corporate objectives, as outlined in the Corporate Plan. However, unlike the Corporate Plan which will not normally be revised every year, the Marketing Plan should be revised annually, although it should also cover a longer planning timeframe (e.g. five years).

The purpose of the plan will be to: review past sales and profit performance; assess the potential of the railway for improved performance and traffic growth, relative to competitors; define or re-define (as necessary) marketing objectives; specify sales, pricing and promotional strategies to achieve growth projected in the plan; develop a programme of action to put the plan into effect; and establish methods and systems to monitor performance against the plan.

Box VI provides a possible approach to formulation of a Railway Marketing Plan. The structure and content of the plan, as illustrated in this box, reflect its purpose as stated above. The following paragraphs expand on the contents of the plan under the individual headings contained in the box.

Past Performance Review:

This review should reveal the performance of the railway over the past five years in relation to each identified market segment. Performance elements reviewed should include:

The total market volume, or the total transportation volume, in each segment. For example, for Commuter Traffic, this might be the total number of commuter passenger journeys per year and the total commuter passenger kilometres per year, by all modes, within the defined commuter catchment area

The railway system volume and percentage share of the total market volume, in each segment. In the case of the Commuter Traffic example, this would be the number of commuter rail passenger journeys per year, the total commuter rail passenger kilometres per year and the rail percentage share of the total commuter journeys and commuter passenger kilometres (for all modes), within the defined commuter catchment area

The revenue earned, the financial contribution (revenue less long run marginal costs) derived from that revenue, and the contribution rate (e.g. contribution per passenger, passenger km, freight tonne or tonne km) , for each segment. In the Commuter Traffic case, this would be the total fare revenue per year generated by rail commuter.

THE PLACE OF MARKETING IN THE RAILWAY ORGANIZATION

The position of the marketing unit in the railway organization chart and the structure of the marketing unit itself are important considerations, since they indicate very clearly the significance attached to the role of Marketing within the corporate organization and largely determine the effectiveness of the marketing function in achieving corporate goals.

Of course, more than a few of the region’s railway organizations do not incorporate a Marketing unit in any form. It is important, therefore, that when they do develop a Marketing capability, careful consideration should be given to the structure of their Marketing unit, the reporting relationships within this unit, and the reporting relationships between this Marketing unit and the senior corporate management positions in the overall organization.

The structure and form of organization adopted desirably should permit:

Close and frequent communications between the Chief Executive Officer and the head of the Marketing unit, with both persons accepting a leading role in promoting a customer oriented marketing culture throughout the organization. (This is likely to require that the reporting line from the Chief Executive Officer to the head of the Marketing unit be as short as possible);

Effective co-ordination of railway commercial and operational activities, perhaps

suggesting that both functions should be integrated in an organizational sense;

Integration of all elements of the marketing mix under a single management function, suggesting that responsibility for sales, market research and planning, pricing, advertising and promotion, and physical distribution, should be centralized within the marketing unit.

The Position of Marketing Within the Corporate Structure

There are numerous models which can provide guidance for the organization of the marketing function within the overall corporate structure of railway organizations. However, three organizational models appear to have so far to have found favour within the region. They are:

Marketing as a functional department

Marketing as a service department

Marketing as a strategic business unit

The first of these models, the functional department model , is the most commonly applied form of organization for railways and is illustrated in figure 4-1. This form of organization has been adopted by a majority of the region’s railways which have introduced a marketing/commercial function. It was also used extensively in Australia before a majority of

the government owned railway systems in that country adopted a strategic business unit approach. The distinct advantage of this model is that integrates the railway marketing and operations functions under the management of a single senior corporate manager, who reports directly to the Chief Executive Officer. Of all the organizational models available, this type of arrangement is most likely to ensure that the activities of staff primarily responsible for maintaining an interface with railway customers and of staff primarily responsible for service delivery are effectively harmonized and co-ordinated. Amongst other things, this form of organization should facilitate (but cannot of itself ensure) effective and frequent communication between the personnel involved in each of these two functions.

The second-listed form of organization, Marketing as a service department, involves a more passive role for Marketing in the corporate organization. Generally, this model integrates Marketing with the Corporate Planning function, under a single senior corporate manager reporting directly to the Chief Executive Officer. While this has the advantage of integrating the lead planning role of marketing within the corporate planning structure, it could threaten the close contact which should exist between marketing staff and railway customers, thereby reducing the marketing plan to an “academic” exercise, devoid of customer inputs. It should be noted also that, almost by definition, a Corporate Planning unit within any organization has a co-ordinating function - it must assemble planning inputs from all other units in the organization. Arguably, such a unit would be no less effective in discharging this role if Marketing were to be organizationally independent of it, in the sense that Marketing would be just like any other unit of the organization, contributing planning inputs under the co-ordination of the central Corporate Planning unit.

The last listed form of organization, Marketing as a strategic business unit, represents an extension of the concept of a product or brand-based organization, as featured in many Marketing textbooks and as applied mostly in the field of consumer product marketing in many western developed countries. From a railway perspective, it involves structuring an organization around key units of its business, which for the most part are capable of being managed separately. These units may be groups of core business services, such as Passenger and Freight services, or diversified activities, such as Real Estate or Commercial Property Development.

In the railway sector, however, few business segments are discrete in an operational sense and hence most consume shared resources such as track, signalling and motive power. Nevertheless, there are very often advantages in managing as separate units those businesses for which a large proportion of the resources consumed are specific to those businesses. For example, the costs associated with passenger stations and related facilities, as well as those associated with the passenger rollingstock fleet constitute a relatively large share of the total costs of operating passenger services, and specialized management of these resources is possible and desirable. Similar observations may be made about freight traffic, in respect of the management of marshalling yards, freight terminals, freight rollingstock and other freight dedicated resources.

In addition, the passenger and freight elements of railway business invariably require dedicated pricing policies, sales efforts and promotional campaigns. For this and the abovementioned reasons, better management of passenger, freight and other specialized elements of railway business (e.g. parcels, real estate) can possibly be achieved by separating them into Strategic Business Units, each with its own marketing and operational management components.

Of course it is possible to opt for various combinations of each of these three organizational forms. One railway which has adopted a hybrid form of organization is the Malayan Railway. The organizational structure of this railway combines features of the third listed form of organization (business units) with features of the second listed type of organization (marketing as a service department).

The geographical size of the railway system will clearly have a strong influence on the type of organization structure which is adopted. If it is considered desirable to integrate the marketing and operations functions, large regionalized railways need to have an organization structure which is duplicated at headquarters and regional level. For example, in the Indian Railways both functions are within the responsibility of the Board Member for Traffic at Headquarters level and he has assisting him an Additional Member (Traffic) and an Additional Member (Commercial), each with their own departmental organizations. This structure is duplicated in each of the nine zonal, or regional, railways, with an Operations Manager (responsible for operating functions) and a Commercial Manager (responsible for marketing functions), both having their own departmental organizations and reporting directly to the General Manager of the zonal railway, but with an informal reporting line to their respective counterparts at headquarters. Only by organizational duplication of this type can effective, and vital, coordination of operations and marketing functions be assured right down to the level of the smallest field unit in such a large organization.

However, there are, both within and outside the region, examples of large railway systems which have opted for complete separation of management responsibility for the marketing and operations functions. One such is the National Rail Corporation Ltd of Australia which transports all interstate rail freight. It has a Corporate Headquarters located in Sydney, a Marketing Headquarters located in Melbourne, and an Operations Headquarters located in Adelaide (which is some 778 km by rail from Melbourne). The heads of the Marketing and Operations Divisions report directly to the Managing Director, based in Sydney. In this organization, only the operations and engineering functions are regionalized. To a large extent, the geographical environment in which the NRC operates, with a major concentration of railway customers in the east of the country, has dictated its organizational form but the separation of the units responsible for customer service from those responsible for customer liaison will mean that there will be additional pressure on the Managing Director (the Chief Executive Officer) to ensure that service delivery meets customer expectations.

Structure of the Marketing Unit

The structure of a typical Railway Marketing Department is also shown in figure 4-1. This structure is relevant to any of the organizational arrangements discussed in the foregoing section. Thus, it would be as applicable to a Marketing unit structured as a functional or service department as it would be to a Marketing unit structured as part of a Strategic Business Unit.

It is important that the Marketing unit should have responsibility for all seven elements of the Marketing mix. The unit will normally have four sections, each under a section manager, with responsibility for Sales, Planning/Market Research, Pricing and Advertising/Promotion. If justified by the workload, it may also be desirable to have a fifth department to provide advice to customers in logistics and materials handling matters (including the layout of rail loading/unloading facilities). Alternatively, responsibility for this function can rest with the Sales section.

Ministry of railway:

Minister

Haji Ghulam Ahmad BilourFederal Minister for Railways

Ch. Muhammad Afzal Sandhu, Minister of State , Ministry of Railways

 

Secretary Shahid Hussain Raja Secretary / Chairman Railways Divisions

 

Railways Division Railway Division is responsible for overall control of Pakistan Railways as well as to guide the overall policy. There are four (4) Directorates ......

S

Organizational Plan of Pakistan Railway

Pakistan RailwaysSummary Profile

Pakistan Railways is a department of the Government of Pakistan (GOP). The network has 7,791 route km, 559 stations and it has an annual revenue of around Rs.20 Billion (2007-2008). Pakistan Railways came into existence under a different name on 13 May 1861, when Kotri and Karachi two stations 169 km. a part were linked by rail. In 1947, it was named as Northwestern Railways, had 11,088 routes Km of which 3043 were transferred to India. Leaving 8,045 Km to Pakistan. In 1961, it was named as Pakistan Western Railway and in 1974 as Pakistan Railways.

Operational Structure

Ministry of Railway is responsible for overall control of Pakistan Railways as well as to guide the overall policy. There are four (4) Directorates in this PR namely Administrative Directorate, Technical Directorate, Planning Directorate, and Finance Directorate.

The following officers also report directly to the Secretary Railways:-

a. General Manager (Operations) b. General Manager/Manufacture and Services c. Federal Government Inspector of Railways

Railway Board is the highest body for technical matters of the Railways, Secretary, Ministry of Railways is also ex-officio Chairman of the Railway Board.

Pakistan Railways at this time is a vertically integrated organization and has four business units. Pakistan Railways is headed by a General Manager, who is the Chief Executive Officer assisted by four Addl. General Managers, namely, Infrastructure Business Unit, Passenger Business Unit, Freight Business Unit and Manufacturing and Services Unit that looks after: Concrete Sleeper Factories, (CSF), and Carriage Factory. Islamabad, (CFI), Locomotive Factory, Risalpur, Rehabilitation Project, Medical and Health Service. Railway Construction Company (RAILCOP), Pakistan Railway Advisory & Consultancy Services (PRACS) and Educational Facilities).

Human Resources

Pakistan Railways has about 90,000 employees consisting of staff and officers as of 2008). 71% of the total employees are working in Civil, Mechanical and Transportation departments. All the hierarchy positions are held by graduate Engineers.

Organization

In the late 1990s, the Government of Pakistan considered selling the airline to the private sector due to the persistent losses suffered by the airline.The general supervision and management of affairs of Pakistan Railways is vested in the Railway Board, which has been reconstituted. The new Railway Board consists of Chairman and five Members out of which three are from the private sector. Secretary to the Government of Pakistan, Ministry of Railways is the ex-officio Chairman of Railway Board and the General Manager, Railways is the Chief Executive Officer. Organization Structure of Pakistan Railways is of functional type, headed by GM and assisted by four Addl. General Managers.

The New Organization Structure

This Organizational structure designed to create a commercial environment is now in the process of implementation.

Financial Performance of Pakistan Railways for 2006-07 and 2007-08:

 

                                                2006-07                          2007-08(in million Rupees) 

A. Revenue                 

  1. Total Revenue                    11,674                             11,346

 

B. Expenditure

1.  Working expenses               20,268                             21,916                         

2.  Improvement & Welfare Expenses     269                    249           

3.  Pensions                                4,067                                 4,364

4.  Depreciation                          2,115                                 2,115

Surplus/deficit                           (7,527)                              (8,671)                         

Interest on Foreign loans             2,021                               1,834                                

Interest on Over draft                  1,343                                 1,961                                 

Net Profit and Loss                (10,891)                            (12,466)

 

Transportation Sector including Railways

The domestic transportation system in Pakistan primarily comprises of the Road, Rail and Air. The growing economy is imposing strains on the transport sector.

Road Sector

The total roads of all types are estimated at 258,350 kms. Of which high type roads are 176,587 km. and low type roads are 81,761 kms. The highest density remains on the Grand Trunk Road running from Peshawar to Karachi. The first segment of an alternate motorway form Islamabad to Lahore and Islamabad to Peshawar has been completed. With other sections to be constructed shortly. The national highway carries 96 percent of the freight and 91 percent of passenger traffic.

Railway Sector

Railway sector in Pakistan has not maintained its position in the transport sector. The market share of Pakistan Railways kept on declining with the passage of time. For example, annual passenger volume carried by Pakistan Railways in late 1970’s was approx. 145 million, which has come down to 59 million in 1992/93. The freight business was of PR was 15 million tons in late 1960’s but has come down to 7 million tons. Roads have steadily become the more preferred form of transportation. An example of PR’s declining market share is that it is moving only 11% of total petroleum products and 2% of the total containers. A more professionally managed and independent railways have immense growth potential.

Air Sector

Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), the national carrier, is carrying the bulk of the air travel services within the country. With deregulation of the air sector in the 90’s, three other private airlines have entered the domestic market and international market.

Regulatory Environment

The Railway Regulatory Framework is now under preparation.

The broad objectives of the proposed Regulatory Policy are:

To regulate the establishment, working, and provision of railway services in Pakistan

To promote and protect the interests of users of railway services To promote competition in the provision of railway services To encourage investment in railway infrastructure and rolling stock by the private

sector and To promote efficiency and economy in the provision of railway services To resolve disputes arising in the industry.

The Regulator is expected to have three major functions:

Overseeing the rules and conditions establishing access to infrastructure and approving access contracts

Licensing private train operations and resolving disputes of regulatory nature Managing Public Service Obligations for the Military and other Passenger traffic.

Current Status The unbundling of Pakistan Railways into core business units (Infrastructure,

Freight and Passenger) is under process Managing Directors (MD) for the three core business units Infrastructure, Freight

and Passenger have been appointed. A notification for the operation of the core business units and delegation of

powers to the MDs has been issued. Operation of the three units has commenced from September 1998.

Accounting separation and segregation of assets is being formalised. Non-core assets will be evaluated and prepared to be sold through open auction. Regulatory environment is being established.

 

The Likely OfferSale/Concession of three core business units of Pakistan Railways (PR) i.e. Infrastructure, Freight and Passenger unitsNon-core units: Locomotive factory, Sleeper factories, Carriage Factory etc.Railway land and other properties.Transfer of Ancillary facilities.Development of PR properties (e.g. Railway Stations in major cities)Equipment/sections for preservation of Railway heritage.

Financial Analysis and plan

Current financial Situation

So far so bad

Railways needs immediate financial support to stay on track

Pakistan Railways -- once the prime transporter of cargo and passengers alike -- is in dire straits and calls for an immediate financial support and reform to avoid collapse it is facing.

For decades, this huge state-owned corporation is confronted with losses worth billions of rupees mainly due to mismanagement, corruption and overstaffing in the organisation.

The importance of this organisation can be gauged from the fact that it carries an average of 178,000 people daily or 65 million passengers annually on a route length that measures 8,163 kilometres, at comparatively affordable rates. Besides, it transports around 5 percent of the total cargo (6 million tonnes) destined for different parts of the country at rates much cheaper than those charged by road transporters. This ratio was much higher in the early decades after the partition but with the passage of time the Railways kept on losing its share to other means of transport.

Pakistan Railways is also a major public sector employer as it pays salaries to around 79,000 employees and pension to thousands of its former employees. The payments made under these two heads stand at Rs14 billion and Rs7 billion per annum respectively.

As per an announcement made by the Minister for Railways, Ghulam Ahmed Bilour, on National Assembly's floor, Pakistan faced losses worth Rs15.03 billion during the fiscal year of 2007-08 and Rs18.6 billion in fiscal 2008-09. Though the government granted a subsidy of Rs7.30 billion to the Pakistan Railways in 2007-08, and financial support to the tune of Rs9.03 billion in 2008-09, the assistance had little impact on the overall performance of the organisation.

Unable to bear the burgeoning financial losses, the Railways authorities planned to suspend more than 100 passengers and mail trains which, they say, were running in constant losses.

Another purpose, authorities say, was to free locomotives and use them to operate cargo trains which could not be run due to the shortage of engines.

According to Pakistan Railways documents, the corporation needs 250 fully fit locomotives for operation as against a demand of 500 locomotives to maintain the current operation and additional 300 locomotives to meet the targets set by the Railways to lift at least 25 percent of the cargo available in the market.

The situation so far is so bad that the railways failed to move even a single freight train from Port Qasim for the upcountry during the first three weeks of July due to non-availability of engines.

Presently, about 200 locomotives, out of which a majority is of US/Japan origin and 30 of Chinese origin, are held up for repair or overhauling. The repair and overhauling have suffered because of the non-availability of requisite spare parts and lack of funds.

The importers who had booked containers for the transportation of their goods had to face hefty demurrages, as they could not return them in time. The fact that road transporters can ensure timely delivery goods make them the first choice of customers.

Pakistan Railways Minister Bilour holds National Logistic Cell (NLC) responsible for the loss of cargo business that the organisation once had. NLC, formed in late 1970s and operated by the Pakistan Army, lifts most of the cargo and transports it through road networks.

The Railways minister has demanded Rs200 billion from the government to improve the railways infrastructure. In a recent statement, he cited Indian Railways' example which has recorded huge profits in the last couple of years saying India had not made NLC and their trains were used for cargo service across the country. Pakistan Railways did raise fares by 25 percent in 2007-2008 and 15 percent each year thereafter, but it is still unable to turn its losses into profit. One reason for this is that the number of people who travel without tickets is constantly on the rise and there is no check on this practice. Besides, corruption and mismanagement have permeated every department of this organisation as is obvious from the Auditor-General of Pakistan's report issued this year. The report has unearthed irregularities worth Rs7.749 billion in the Board and Infrastructure Business Unit of Pakistan Railways as the rules were set aside in awarding contracts, acceptance of tender, recovery of toll tax, expenditure, booking, employment, land-usage charges and awarding of city booking agencies.

In a bid to improve the situation, the Cabinet Committee on Restructuring (CCoR) of Public Sector Enterprises (PSEs) has outlined the initial restructuring plan of the Railways under which it should be separated into four separate companies -- Passenger, Freight, Manufacturing and Asset Management Company.

Last but not the least, Pakistan Railways needs to retrieve its land illegally occupied by individuals as well as government departments. At present, over 3,000 acres of railway land is under illegal occupation by individuals, whereas more than 1,000 acres have been occupied by various provincial and federal governments departments. The total area of the encroached railways' land stands at 4,231 acres.

A major part of the illegally occupied land is located in Lahore where the organisation is struggling to free 1,839 acres from land grabbers. The said area stands around 333 acres in Quetta, 246 in Karachi, 238 in Sukkur, 212 in Multan, 169 in Peshawar and 35 in Rawalpindi.

"The real issue is very low investment in this sector"

-- Haji Ghulam Ahmad Bilour, Federal Minister of Railways

Pakistan Railways is confronted with grave crises, including the crunch in the form of the huge deficit of Rs 23 billion annually. It is feared that the entity could grind to a halt in the next three or four years if the situation remains the same and adequate steps are not taken by the government to address the issue?

Ghulam Ahmad Bilour: Yes, Railways is plagued with grave financial problems but that doesn't mean its operations will be stopped completely. When we talk about the deficit, let me remind you that this entity is meant to be a welfare body and that financial loss has hit the entire world barring India which has been striving to improve its rail system since partition.

Secondly, in India, the transportation of anything belonging to the government such as wheat, cement, fertilizer and other goods in trucks or vehicles other than the trains is illegal. The Indians have strengthened their rail system instead of roads but in our country it's the other way round. When Pakistan came into being, almost 90 percent of goods from Karachi to other parts of country were transported by trains and now that has been reduced to only 10 percent.

Another apt example is that of Lahore-Islamabad motorway which was built after the acquirement of massive land worth billions of rupees but no one thought about the upgradation of rail track from Lahore to Rawalpindi. The track that we are using now is operational since 1860 and still the people ask us about the poor performance of railways.

TNS: How do you think these problems could be solved? Besides, have you prepared any plan to steer the railways away from the verge of collapse?

GHB: People talk about mismanagement and corruption in railways; I won't deny it completely but these problems are in every Pakistani organization. The real issue is that of very low investment in this key sector. We have gigantic problems at hand but the financial resources are too low to enable us to cope with the situation. Take the case of employees' pension, which is around 7 billion rupees. The pension of every other official entity is paid by the government but in our case it's the ministry that has to arrange for the pension. They give it to army, police and others then why are we excluded. When I took charge, we had 92 locomotives for freight purposes and that too decades old and now we have around 40 such locomotives that are functional. We have no money to buy even spare parts for them.

We were promised by the former finance minister Shaukat Tareen that Rs.5 billion would be given to repair the locomotives and address other financial issues that required immediate attention but he resigned and the money never came in. Since

then we have been waiting to present the railways' revamping plan to the prime minister but we have yet to be given the time for meeting.

What we at the railways need is a bailout package as promised by Prime Minister Gillani. What is required is a prompt implementation of the package.

TNS: What is the ministry doing to vacate the thousands of acres of illegally occupied land? Isn't the land in the possession of different provincial departments?

GHB: The provinces claim that the vast swathes of land that belong to railways are theirs. The provincial governments say that the lands were actually given by them to railways and now those which are not used by the ministry [of Railways] must be in their possession. However, I am in close contact with the chief ministers, especially Mian Shahbaz Sharif and Syed Qaim Ali Shah, to resolve the contentious issue.

After thorough discussions, it has been agreed upon that the provinces and railways would retain 50 percent of the entire land that the ministry has long been asking for. Now the modalities are being worked out to settle the problem in line with the agreed formula of half share of land.

TNS: The closure of some of the passenger trains has evoked a strong reaction from the masses. What made you take this unpopular decision?

GHB: See, the decision to close down some passenger trains operating on shorter routes was aimed at reducing the huge financial loss incurred by the ministry. These locomotives could, however, be used to run goods trains and passenger trains on long routes.

My organisation is faced with a loss of Rs2 billion per annum on the routes closed for the short-distance trains. The people prefer to use other modes of transportation.

TNS: Why not privatise the entity, if the government or your ministry is not able to run the railways on profitable basis? Why the ruling classes are opposed to this idea?

GHB: In principle, we have no problem with the privatisation of railways but whoever from the private sector will come forward, given the current situation? We are under a huge debt of Rs40 billion of the State Bank and we pay Rs4 billion worth interest on that every year.

Besides, what would become of the thousands of rail workers who will be removed from their services once private control is assumed?

Instead, someone from outside the government could come and run their own trains on our tracks that we are ready to make available for them. In response to this offer only the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry people have showed interest to run their train from Karachi to Lahore. Let's hope this works out well.

TNS: It has been widely reported in the media that the Chinese locomotives purchased by the ministry of railways are faulty and that huge kickbacks were involved on the part of those at the helm of affairs during the General (retd) Musharraf's rule. If the Chinese locomotives are of no good use, why don't you opt for the ones from Japan?

GHB: We have also had Japanese locomotives in the past but they too were not up to the mark. The only reliable locomotives are the ones from America. But if we opt for them everybody will say why did we ignore the Chinese product? Aren't we allies with China? The comparatively high price of American locomotives is also an issue.

Off track: Pakistan Railways losses mount to over Rs12bn

ISLAMABAD: Incompetent staff, financial embezzlements and mismanagement have made the Pakistan Railways running losses of around Rs12.6 billion, latest official data reveals.

The Ministry of Railways has asked the Finance Division to release adequate funds for reviving the institute, but Pakistan Railways leased thousands of acres of land worth billions to a lessee and subsequently failed to recover the lease amount and receivables, which collectively exceed Rs12.6 billion.

According to the Auditor General of Pakistan’s report, 46 of Railways’ plots in Hyderabad and Mirpurkhas were utilised for commercial purposes without paying the requisite charges to the state-run organisation, incurring losses of Rs189.7 million.

However, the Railways’ administration did not contact the concerned authority to recover the amount, while in another case, the Railways’ owned 851 kanals land in Bara Kahu near Islamabad, was handed over to the Capital Development Authority but the Railways did not recover a single penny against the transfer of land, which is now worth over Rs5 billion.

The report added that as per an agreement executed between the Railways and M/s Zareco Real Estate, Islamabad, a land measuring 4.78 acres was leased to the company on March 3, 2002.

After three years, the director marketing of Railways asked the lessee in March 2005 to deposit Rs157.7 million due in August 2004, but “the lessee failed to deposit the amount and the contract was terminated in September 2005, the report revealed. The lessee resorted to litigation, which culminated in May 2006 with the Railways reviving the contract.

However, the Railways has failed to recover the sum of Rs157.7 million along with the late-payment surcharge until January 2009, the report added.

The Auditor General said that in order to avoid losses incurred on bulk purchase of gas and its distribution by Railways, it was rightly decided to hand over the distribution system at Lahore to the Sui Northern Gas Pipe Lines Limited, for which a sum of Rs21.8 million was paid in June, 2005.

But until May 2009, only 5 of the 33 Railways colonies in Lahore could be handed over to Sui Northern. “The position of the remaining 19 colonies for the year 2007-08 resulted

in Railways sustaining a loss of Rs55.1 million. Had the process of handing over been completed, this loss per year could have been avoided.”

In another case, the contract for repairs of Railways Shed at Karachi Port was awarded at a cost of Rs1.04 billion. Subsequently, the Railways administration increased the cost to Rs3.4 billion in April 26 due to poor estimation and bad planning, and the execution cost of the work increased by 233 per cent.

Also, the railways mechanical department consumed High Speed Diesel Oil in excess of the fixed quota, incurring losses of Rs102.6 million.

Pakistan Railways unable to achieve desired financial results

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Railways (PR) administration had not been able to attain the stipulated financial results through best utilization of resources for achieving the targeted outcome to take care of its revenue receipts by achieving the targets and curtailing revenue expenditure by keeping the same within allotted funds.

It was declared by the Auditor General Pakistan’s office in its latest audit observation for financial year 2009-10.

Documents available with Daily Times revealed that due to negligence and non-serious attitude of bureaucracy in Pakistan Railways, the payment of interest on Overdrafts (OD) during last five years had showed increasing trend and indicating financial mismanagement.

AGP revealed that there has been abnormal increase in the overdraft (OD) coupled with no serious efforts undertaken by PR except that compulsory /obligatory payments of GPF (Gross Provident Fund), salaries etc. and other committed liabilities are being deferred to improve cash management which is highly irrational and illegal method of doing this.

Document stated that as per regulations of State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), PR is required to pay interest on OD up to Rs 4 billion at the rate charged to the treasury bills and for the over and above amount at commercial rates.

OD of PR has touched the figure of Rs.35.198 billion including Ways and Means Advance on June 30, 2009 as against Rs.15.152 billion in financial year 2004-05, i.e. 132% increase over a period of 5 years.

The analysis of financial statements of PR for the last five years conducted by audit revealed that dependence of Pakistan Railways on OD, provided by SBP, has substantially increased.

In FY 2008-09, exceptionally high increase of Rs 9.856 billion in OD was observed; which is 39% of total OD of last five years comes Rs 22.347 billion whereas the average OD of the five years proceeding to that (1999-2000 to 2003-04) is Rs 17.905 million.

The comparison of average rates of booth these periods showed increase of Rs 4.442 billion, which is alarming.

Furthermore, PR is paying persistently huge amount of interest on OD due to lack of planning and management of funds/operation. During FY 2004-05, PR had paid Rs 49.384 million on account of interest on OD; this figure jumped to Rs 396.855 million, as showed 704% increase during FY 2008-09.

Similarly the scrutiny of record managed by AGP officials regarding “Procurement/manufacturing of 75 D.E Locomotives” disclosed that Pakistan Railways failed to assess the financial implications and decided injudiciously to purchase new locomotives despite strong financial crunch in most profitable institution of the country.

Audit revealed that injudicious decisions taken by Federal Railway Minister Ghulam Ahmed Bilour as a part of present regime regarding the purchase of 75 new locomotive engines, Pakistan Railways faced the loss of Rs 5.581 billion (approximately).

As per PC-1 total cost of one new 75 D.E Loco engine procured from China was Rs.12.700 billion excluding the amount of interest over the contact as Rs.5.608 billion (approximately), While PR could be saved the amount of Rs 5.581 billion if the right decisions were taken as spent 40.64% less amount on the rehabilitation of old locomotives engine.

Financial Performance of Pakistan Railways

Financial Performance of Pakistan Railways for 2006-07 and 2007-08:

 

                                                2006-07                          2007-08(in million Rupees) 

A. Revenue                 

  1. Total Revenue                    11,674                             11,346

 

B. Expenditure

1.  Working expenses               20,268                             21,916                         

2.  Improvement & Welfare Expenses     269                    249           

3.  Pensions                                4,067                                 4,364

4.  Depreciation                          2,115                                 2,115

Surplus/deficit                           (7,527)                              (8,671)                         

Interest on Foreign loans             2,021                               1,834                                

Interest on Over draft                  1,343                                 1,961                                 

Net Profit and Loss                (10,891)                            (12,466)

Operating Results

The operating results of the Company for the quarter are summarized as follows:

30 September30

September2010 2009

(Rupees)

Revenue 119,814,426123,558,73

2Gross profit 37,179,30139,025,821Operating cost 58,575,62346,182,988

Operating (loss) (21,396,322)(7,157,167

)

(Loss) after taxation (27,061,579)(14,297,44

7)Earnings / loss per share - Basic & diluted (0.20) (0.11)

During the quarter under review, the Company's revenues and profits have been squeezed as

compared to the corresponding period last year. The revenue for the quarter was Rs. 120million as compared to Rs. 124 million in the corresponding period, while loss after tax for the

current period was Rs. 27 million. The EPS of the Company was Rs. (0.20) as compared to Rs.

(0.11) in the corresponding period last year.

BALANCE SHEET

AS AT 30 SEPTEMBER 2010

(Un-audited) (Audited)

30 September 30 June

Note 2010 2010

(Rupees)

ASSETS

NON CURRENT ASSETS

Tangible fixed assets

Property, plant and equipment 5 1,293,615,721 1,324,349,538

Intangible assets 6 153,107,270 153,173,970

Long term deposits 9,914,526 9,984,926

Television program costs 46,012,317 52,634,756

Deferred taxation 116,622,948 102,981,740

1,619,272,782 1,643,124,930

CURRENT ASSETS

Inventories 28,076,396 24,156,017

Current portion of television program costs 75,385,130 73,016,734

Trade debts 213,571,979 196,072,374

Loans and advances 24,757,512 21,106,509

Deposit and prepayments 21,528,458 20,474,481

Other receivables 35,081,494 25,839,092

Cash and bank balances 11,521,288 18,461,424

409,922,257 379,126,631

TOTAL ASSETS 2,029,195,039 2,022,251,561

EQUITY AND LIABILITIES

Share Capital and Reserves

Authorized capital

140,000,000 ordinary shares of Rs. 10 each. 1,400,000,000 1,400,000,000

Issued, subscribed and paid up capital 1,341,382,580 1,341,382,580

Share premium 76,223,440 76,223,440

Unappropriated (loss) (79,605,076) (52,543,497)

Total Equity 1,338,000,944 1,365,062,523

NON CURRENT LIABILITIES

Long term finances 7 389,929,002 391,629,002

Retirement benefits 48,776,021 45,229,862

Liabilities against assets subject to finance lease 106,657 125,834

438,811,680 436,984,698

CURRENT LIABILITIES

Trade and other payables 150,890,011 128,843,485

Interest and mark-up accrued 17,729,647 984,777

Short term borrowings 8 50,000,000 51,262,745

Current maturities of long term liabilities 33,762,757 39,113,333

252,382,415 220,204,340

Contingencies and commitments 9 - -

TOTAL EQUITY AND LIABILITIES 2,029,195,039 2,022,251,561

CONDENSED INTERIM PROFIT AND LOSS ACCOUNT (UN-AUDITED) FOR THE QUARTER ENDED 30 SEPTEMBER 2010

30 September 30 September

2010 2009

(Rupees)

Revenue -Net 119,814,426 123,558,732

Direct cost (82,635,125) (84,532,911)

Gross profit 37,179,301 39,025,821

Operating cost (58,575,623) (46,182,988)

Operating (loss) (21,396,322) (7,157,167)

Finance cost (18,135,144) (15,360,849)

(39,531,466) (22,518,016)

Other operating Income 26,824 2,870,720

Loss before taxation (39,504,642) (19,647,296)

Taxation 12,443,063 5,349,849

Total comprehensive loss (27,061,579) (14,297,447)

Earnings per share - basic and diluted 14 (0.20) (0.11)

CONDENSED INTERIM STATEMENT OF COMPREHENSIVEINCOME (UN-AUDITED)FOR THE QUARTER ENDED 30 SEPTEMBER 2010

30 September 30 September

2010 2009

(Rupees)

Loss after taxation (27,061,579) (14,297,447)

Other comprehensive income/ (loss) for the year - -

Total comprehensive loss for the year (27,061,579) (14,297,447)

CONDENSED INTERIM CASH FLOW STATEMENT (UN-AUDITED)FOR THE QUARTER ENDED 30 SEPTEMBER 2010

30 September 30 SeptemberNote 2010 2009

(Rupees)

Cash flow from operating activities

Cash generated from operations 10 15,865,087 68,279,351

Decrease in long term deposits 70,400 1,745,950

Television programs costs (2,368,396) 2,121,860

Retirement benefits paid (35,000) (324,600)

Finance cost paid (1,390,274) (15,889,486)

Taxes paid (1,350,524) (773,058)

Net cash generated from operating activities 10,791,293 55,160,017

Cash flow from investing activities

Fixed capital expenditure (9,398,931) (22,820,751)

Sale proceeds of operating fixed assets - 318,052

Net cash (used in) investing activities (9,398,931) (22,502,699)

Cash flow from financing activities

Repayment of long term finances-Net (1,700,000) 2,537,500

Repayment of short term borrowings (1,262,745) (19,981,697)

Repayment of finance lease liabilities-Net (5,369,753) (12,114,056)

Net cash (used in) financing activities (8,332,498) (29,558,253)

Net (decrease) / increase in cash and cash equivalents (6,940,136) 3,099,065

Cash and cash equivalents at the beginning of the period 18,461,424 9,177,999

Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the period 11,521,288 12,277,064

With Rs11b package, Pakistan Railways gets a new lease of life  Saturday, January 01, 2011  Mumtaz AlviIslamabad

Pakistan Railways (PR) was heading to completely halt its operations across the country within three months had the cabinet not approved the already delayed Rs11.1 billion ($128 million) bailout package, Federal Railways Minister Haji Ghulam Ahmad Bilour said.

Talking to The News here at the Parliament House, the minister said the leading organization, which transported millions of people annually, faced a pressing shortage of locomotives for years and had no money even to repair over 300 rusting engines.

The minister made an appeal to the Lahore High Court to expeditiously decide the cases

relating to the import of 150 locomotives from the United States and another 75 from China.

Bilour pleaded that to ensure effective operations of the Pakistan Railways was a national obligation and this was only possible by provision of as many as locomotives to the department as possible.

“How handicapped are we presently can be gauged from the staggering figure of 4,000 loaded wagons in Karachi waiting to be transported to upcountry. But unfortunately, we have just 25 locomotives at our disposal for freight service across Pakistan,” the federal minister said and added daily 40-50 goods trains must be coming upcountry but this was not possible in the given conditions.

He noted Pakistan Railways had a massive business of goods transportation, which could enable it to overcome haemorrhaging losses, but this was only possible if a minimum 350 more locomotives were at its disposal.

Bilour pointed out that as compared to Pakistan Railways, which had a fleet of around 500 locomotives (with nearly 350 out of order), India had 8,000 locomotives that were in operation around the year. “You can say railway engines are our department’s lifeline. But absence of investment to rehabilitate and add to its assets has brought the railways to this position,” he maintained.

Asked about how the Rs11.1 billion package would be utilized, he explained that Rs6.1 billion would be spent on repair of 145 locomotives, whereas the rest on improvement of tracks, maintenance of passenger coaches and strategic reserves to purchase diesel.

The minister expressed his gratitude to the cabinet for showing keen interest in the railways during the presentation and said this reflected his cabinet colleagues truly were the public representatives and had concern for their interests.

When asked why the government took so much time to okay the package when the railways was facing a sure halt to its operations, the minister said he had met President Asif Ali Zardari and highlighted the worrying state of affairs twice or thrice before Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani but as a last-ditch effort, he had to bring the matter before the cabinet.

To a question about a turn-around in one of Pakistan’s largest state organizations, the minister believed that had the governments over the years, accorded priority to it, as it had to the road transport sector, Pakistan Railways would have been a profit-making entity or at least showing no profit-no-loss equation.

Last year, despite facing locomotives non-availability, outdated infrastructure, over 83 million people, mostly hailing from the poor, lower and middle class traveled by Pakistan Railways, as they found it much more economical and comfortable than road transport.

The minister was confident the judiciary would soon decide the petitions relating to the import of locomotives, as even if the court gave a go-ahead signal today, it would take a couple of years for the first fleet of locomotives to arrive in Pakistan, whereas Pakistan Railways was facing an emergency situation.

Appendix

Market Research

We arranged market surveys regarding satisfaction of the people towards services offered by the Pakistan Railways. We come to know

that most of the people are not satisfied by the services offered by Pakistan railways. There is complaint against Pakistan railways services in many sectors such as

timing of trains Availability of seats Appearance of trains Corruption in issuing tickets Overall atmosphere of trains and stations Security measures are not enough Behaviors of staff Ticket checking methodology Less numbers of trains Administration policies

Questionnaire

Dear Respondent:

Thank you for sparing your precious time to fill this questionnaire on “Role of Railways in Providing Quality Services”. This research is purely conducted for academic purpose and all the

response will be confidential and from this we make our study more favorable.

(Please respond to each item as accurately as you can in the appropriate boxes).

Section A: Personal Profile

Gender: Male Female

Education Higher Secondary Graduation Master or Above

Age 15-29 30-39 40&Above

Section B: (satisfaction with tangible service) StronglyDisagree

Disagree Neither Agree StronglyAgree

1 Are you satisfied by the arival of trains in time?

2 Are you satisfied by the Appearance of |Trains?

3 Are you satisfied by the Layout of cabins?4 Are you satisfied by the Condition of seats

and births?5 Are you satisfied by the Overall cleanliness?6 Are you satisfied by the atmosphere?

7 Are you satisfied by the Availability of parking?

8 Are you satisfied by Toilet service in trains?

9 Are you satisfied by the Number of services offered?

10 Are you satisfied by the Computer services from railways?

11 Are you satisfied by the ‘Up-to-datedness’ of Trains?

12 Are you satisfied by the ‘Up-to-datedness’ of computer software?

13 Are you satisfied by the Access to the Internet/e-mail?

Section C: (satisfaction with Assurance)StronglyDisagree

Disagree Neither Agree StronglyAgree

1 Are you satisfied by the culture, belief and value regarding railway?

2 Are you satisfied by the Railway staffs ?

3 Are you satisfied by the Ticket checker?4 Are you satisfied by the checking

methodology of tickets?5 Are you satisfied by the staff’s knowledge on

rules and regulation?6 Are you satisfied by the Security measures at

Railways and railway trains?7 Are you satisfied by the Communication skill

of Staff?

Section D: (satisfaction with Reliability)StronglyDisagree

Disagree Neither Agree StronglyAgree

1 Are you satisfied by the administration’s maintenance of records?

2 Are you satisfied by the Staff interest in solving passenger’s problems?

3 Are you satisfied by the punctuality of staff?

Section E: (satisfaction with Empathy)StronglyDisagree

Disagree Neither Agree StronglyAgree

1 Are you satisfied by the Availability of trains to assist you?

2 Are you satisfied by the Managment capacity to solve problems?

3 Are you satisfied by the Channels for expressing complaints?

4 Are you satisfied by the Administration policies for passengers?

5 Are you satisfied by the behavior of staff and administration|?

Special thanks:

The people who responds us during our survey. Special thanks to those people who help us during the survey of passenger at different railway stations. And officials who permitted us to analyze the different sectors of railway workshops.

Survey Pictures

Bibliography :

Relevant websites:www.pakistanrailways.com.pk

www.pakrail.comwww.ministryofrailways.comwww.google.com/Expresstv.comwww.youtube.com