Pakistan Railways has instructed its officials to initiate the process of recovering outstanding dues from federal and provincial departments utilizing its land and services.
The Ministry of Railways has urged these departments to settle their dues promptly, emphasizing the economic challenges faced by the railway department. The outstanding amount, totaling over Rs 8,375 million, is owed by various departments for land usage and services.
The breakdown of dues includes Rs 709.084 million from federal departments, Rs 1980.217 million from provincial departments, and Rs 5685.736 million from autonomous and private bodies. Responding to a query, an official mentioned that Pakistan Railways has upgraded 181 vulnerable unmanned level crossings to manned level crossings out of the 550 identified across the entire railway network.
The funds for upgrading unmanned level crossings were provided by the respective provincial governments. The official highlighted the steps taken by the department in collaboration with provincial governments, emphasizing the distinction between unmanned and manned level crossings. Unmanned level crossings, of which there are 1,565 in the railway network, lack gate leaves. According to railway policy, the responsibility for the upgrade of any level crossing lies with the road-owning authority.
A joint survey conducted in 2013-14 by Pakistan Railways and the Provincial Government identified accident-prone/vulnerable unmanned level crossings, emphasizing the obligation of the district administration or road authority to bear expenses for the upgrade, as outlined in Section 12 of the Railway Act of 1890.
