ABSTRACT

Pakistan’s railway sector is facing a crisis and difficulties to operate efficiently and effectively. Pakistan’s railway sector had several challenges, major declining trend started from the last 50 years. But from 2001 to onward 2015 the situation deteriorated and reached the stage of crisis and collapse, almost having a severe implication on financial management and government. From the near recent 2000, to onward 2007 Pakistan’s railway sector is reviving its image as a result as passenger traffic is getting improved and freight traffic service also positive as well. In reality, the modern Pakistani economy would not exist without the railway. Many of the problems that exist are the same. Different reforms are proposed for the restructuring of railway year by year but the gap in implementation remains the condition same as in the 1990s to date. There is a lack of government interest to develop and grow the Pakistan railway sector. This research relies on the qualitative approach to analyze the Pakistan railway sector reform process. To achieve the objectives published material including papers news articles reports etc. and primary sources semi-structured interview information is used. According to the requirement of the topic thematic analysis is used to reveal the main challenges and different dimensions of the railway sector reform process. Although, qualitative data analysis is undertakenby conducting interviews following purposive sampling from the different officials of the Ministry of the Railway. The finding of this research suggests that government should reduce its footprint in this sector to make it profitable and efficient. They should make the railway sector autonomous with less government interference. The federal government must promote public-private partnerships with proper implementation rules. Government should promote a positive image by increasing the budget for the railway and bringing improvement in strategic management and reform implementation.