{"id":116327,"date":"2026-03-09T02:03:17","date_gmt":"2026-03-09T05:03:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shipping.einnews.com\/article\/898217597"},"modified":"2026-03-09T02:03:17","modified_gmt":"2026-03-09T05:03:17","slug":"private-sector-eyeing-pakistan-railways-freight-business-after-passenger-trains","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/2026\/03\/09\/private-sector-eyeing-pakistan-railways-freight-business-after-passenger-trains\/","title":{"rendered":"Private sector eyeing Pakistan Railways freight business after passenger trains"},"content":{"rendered":"
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LAHORE: As Pakistan Railways (PR) has started outsourcing commercial operation of its passenger trains, luggage and brake vans operation through open auctions, the people associated with the freight business also want the PR to privatise the entire freight trains operation, including coal, fertiliser, container and general goods transportation under the open auction model.<\/p>\n

\u201cOpen auction is an important method to ensure transparency for outsourcing or privatising the passenger and goods train operations in railways. The same model is also being adopted by other departments for outsourcing various operations,\u201d says a senior officer of a private firm associated with the freight business. \u201cI am surprised why the PR is reluctant to outsource commercial operation of its freight trains,\u201d he wondered, urging the PR administration to also outsource this under the open auction model to ensure transparency. \u201cIt will remain a question mark if PR continues avoiding to do so,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

PR\u2019s freight business is the most commercially viable portion of the operation. In the fiscal year 2024\u201325, PR recorded Rs93 billion in total revenue, with freight contributing over Rs31 billion to that total, while the passenger services contributed around Rs47 billion. The freight revenue is, therefore, a substantial component of the overall income. However, it remains underutilised relative to regional rail systems. For the ongoing financial year 2025-26, the department expects a total revenue of Rs100 billion.<\/p>\n

While the passenger services remain the public face of the PR, freight is its true commercial backbone. Coal, cement, fertiliser, petroleum, and containerised cargo moving from ports to the country\u2019s central and north region generate the bulk of railway earnings. In recent years, freight revenue has shown significant growth, proving that the sector has immense commercial potential if managed efficiently.<\/p>\n

At the center of this freight capacity are high-capacity wagons such as the ZBKC series \u2014 modern, heavy-load wagons capable of carrying around 60 tons each. These wagons are purpose-built for bulk commodities like coal and are ideally suited for long-haul inland routes from Karachi ports to power plants and industries across Punjab and beyond. These wagons are not just rolling stock. They are revenue-generating assets \u2014 and how they are allocated directly affects how much the railways earn.<\/p>\n

PR has already demonstrated the effectiveness of open auctions across multiple service areas. \u201cBeyond outsourcing passenger trains through competitive bidding to ensure transparency and market-based revenue, the railways have also offered luggage and brake van operations through public tenders \u2014 generating billions of rupees over recent years. In addition, dedicated cargo train services, including trains 501-502 and 503-504, were similarly placed under open auction mechanisms. These examples collectively show that Pakistan Railways has successfully used transparent, competitive models for passenger, auxiliary, and cargo services \u2014 a precedent that can logically be extended to the allocation of ZB series freight wagons,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n

The federal government\u2019s broader push toward structural reform of state-owned enterprises \u2014 including the ongoing privatisation<\/a> process of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) \u2014 reflects a policy shift toward market discipline, private participation, and competitive bidding to improve performance and reduce losses. The same reform thinking applies naturally to the PR\u2019s freight operations. \u201cOpen access through competitive processes is not privatisation of assets, but commercial utilisation through market forces,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Giving the example of Indian Railways, he said that it earned approximately INR 1.75 lakh crore (over $20 billion) from freight in FY 2024\u201325 alone. India\u2019s freight ecosystem includes private wagon ownership schemes, transparent freight allocation, and market-linked pricing that allow industries direct participation in rail logistics. Wagon utilisation is driven by demand and commercial contracts rather than administrative allotment.<\/p>\n

This competitive framework has allowed Indian Railways to dominate bulk cargo logistics and maintain a strong freight share in the national transport mix. He also mentioned Indonesia\u2019s state railway, PT Kereta Api Indonesia (KAI), operating freight services through structured commercial agreements with coal miners, cement producers, and container operators. \u201cFreight wagons are deployed under long-term commercial contracts where utilisation and revenue are market-linked. Private sector logistics firms actively participate in rail cargo movement under transparent commercial terms,\u201d he said, adding that the Vietnam Railways has also increasingly shifted toward contract-based cargo allocation for container and industrial freight. \u201cThese regional examples show that rail freight thrives when wagon access is commercially structured and market-driven,\u201d he maintained.<\/p>\n

According to him, PR\u2019s Rs93 billion total revenue \u2014 while a milestone domestically \u2014 remains modest when compared regionally. Indian Railways\u2019 freight earnings alone exceed Pakistan Railways\u2019 total income many times over. Even smaller Southeast Asian rail systems generate stronger freight performance through commercial wagon deployment. \u201cIn the past, attempts to commercially outsource freight wagons did not yield the desired results. Tenders were floated but eventually scrapped,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

When contacted, the Minister for Railways Hanif Abbasi dispelled the impression about any reluctance on the part of railways to outsource the freight operation through open auction. \u201cWe have already started outsourcing our passenger trains through open auction. Similarly, luggage and brake vans operation has also been outsourced under the same model.<\/p>\n

To a question, he said the PR would surely go for outsourcing the freight train operations under the open auction model. \u201cBut we don\u2019t want to make it a troubling place by having the participation of non-serious people,\u201d he deplored. To another question, he said that Karachi-Yousafwala (Sahiwal) coal train operation alone had been generating Rs9 billion annual revenue for the PR. \u201cSo we cannot disturb this by outsourcing this under open auction. But if anyone offers considerably more money, we can consider this,\u201d the minister offered.<\/p>\n

Published in Dawn, March 9th, 2026<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/a><\/strong> <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

… contributed around Rs47 billion. The freight<\/span> revenue is, therefore, a substantial component … to dominate bulk cargo<\/span> logistics and maintain a strong freight<\/span> share in the … contract-based cargo<\/span> allocation for container and industrial freight<\/span>. \u00e2\u0080\u009cThese regional …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-116327","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","wpcat-1-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116327","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=116327"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116327\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=116327"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=116327"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=116327"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}