Pakistan Railways, running at a loss of Rs 40 to 50 billion annually, has not reviewed its assets, especially the daily rents for officers and employees staying in its rest houses for decades, due to which railway rest houses are among the cheapest rest houses in Pakistan. Counts where the daily fare is being charged from Rs.40 to Rs.180.
According to a report of Pakistan Railways available to Urdu News, Pakistan Railways has built rest houses on its network across the country. These rest houses are present in 66 cities of the country. Some rest houses are reserved only for railway officers while some are reserved for officers and subordinate employees.
According to the report, most of these rest houses were built before the establishment of Pakistan, while a few are a few years old. There are a total of 83 Railway Rest Houses with 830 rooms in 11 Divisions across the country.
There are a total of 46 rooms in 13 Railway Rest Houses in Karachi Division. Officers of Grade 17 and above can take permanent accommodation at the rate of Rs.180 per day and their subordinates at the rate of Rs.40 per day in the rest houses of Karachi Division.
Thus, a total of 68 rooms have been established in 16 rest houses of the Railways in Lahore Division. In railway rest houses of Lahore division, railway officers can take permanent residence at Rs.180 per day and subordinate employees at Rs.70 per day, while in Mughalpura Lahore rest houses, railway officers from grade 17 to 22 can get only Rs.70 per day. can take residence by giving
There are 18 rooms in 2 Rest Houses of Railways established in Quetta Division. In the railway rest house of Quetta, a railway officer can permanently stay by paying a rent of 180 rupees per day, on-duty railway officers are charged only 500 per day, while railway officers visiting Quetta and their Guests can stay for Rs 2500 per day.
There are 34 rooms in 9 railway rest houses of Peshawar. Officers residing permanently here are charged Rs 180 per day, officers coming on duty Rs 500 per day, while visiting officers or their guests are charged Rs 2500 per day.
There are 43 rooms in 9 railway rest houses of Sukkur division, 18 rooms in 2 railway rest houses of Multan. Here too, permanent resident officers are charged Rs 180 per day, officers on duty are charged Rs 500 per day, while visiting officers or their guests are charged Rs 2500 per day.
There are 76 rooms in 8 railway rest houses of Rawalpindi. In the Railway Guest House of Rawalpindi Division, some rooms have been allotted to railway officers while some have been allotted to subordinate employees on a rent of Rs.3,000 per month i.e. Rs.100 per day. Similarly, in some guest houses, the rent is 180 rupees per day, while officers visiting for half a day are given rooms on rent of 500 rupees per day.
There are 4 rooms in one railway rest house in Islamabad and 15 rooms in three railway rest houses in Risalpur, the rent of which is fixed at Rs.180 per day.
According to another report of the Railways itself, the loss of the Railways was more than 35 billion rupees from April to October 2022 alone. The income of the railways was 33 billion and the expenses were more than 69 billion rupees, while more than 75 billion rupees are being given to the 125,000 pensioners of the railway.
Why are steps not being taken to meet the railway expenses and reduce the deficit by running such a large number of railway rest houses on commercial basis including opening them for tourists?
In response to this question, the railway officials say that since these rest houses are closest to the railway tracks, only the railway officers want to use them, while most of them were built before the formation of Pakistan, hence their condition. Not that they can be used on a commercial basis. If they can be restored, it is possible, but it will cost a lot of money. In such a case, Railway officers and employees staying in guest houses will have to provide alternative accommodation.
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