The sad spectacle of passenger trains delayed for several hours at Karachi with passengers suffering in the hot weather shows that Pakistan Railways is in serious trouble. Daily we hear of trains stranded enroute with malfunctioning engines, which are in short supply. It appears our railways could not function with its severe lack of engines and meager funds. It would be appropriate to privatize the railways to save the people from hardship faced each day.
A suggestion is to sell the rolling stock and track as also enroute facilities and infra structure to United Arab Emirates, which are running successfully an electric overhead automatic train without a driver in Dubai. We should admit our failure to rehabilitate the railways and sell it to a private party before it grinds to a halt due to lack of resources. It is no longer feasible to run it under existing circumstances and Government must consider other options.
DR MUHAMMAD YAQOOB BHATTI
Lahore
