LAHORE: Pakistan Railways termed the statement of Federation of Pakistan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) published in an English daily as untrue and baseless, in which, the PR was held responsible for the non-arrival of Economic Cooperation organization (ECO) freight train in Istanbul. According to the PR spokesperson on Saturday, the PR was responsible for operations in the areas under its control. He cleared that under the agreement, the responsibility for customs clearance, loading, unloading, trans-shipment and related matters lied with the three companies including M/s. Haroon Brothers Pakistan, M/s. Rasan Rail Pars Iran and MFA Logistics Turkey.
He highlighted that four trains were departed from Pakistan between December and March of the current financial year, three of which reached the destination on time, while the fourth train stopped at the Iran-Turkey border mainly due to a payment related dispute between Haroon Brothers and MFA Logistics. To resolve the issue, Pakistan Railways officials issued instructions to M/s. Haroon Brothers which then sent their officials to Turkey and the matter was resolved after negotiations with the other party. The freight train was currently parked at Lake Van, from where it would be transported across the river by ferry boat. Since there was only one ferry boat on the Lake Van at the moment, this process would take three to four days to complete.
All issues related to train delay were decided at the 12th high level working group meeting of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and minutes of which would be issued by the ECO secretariat. The spokesman clarified that the delay in the arrival of train was due to the imposition of additional charges by MFA Logistics, which was based in Turkey. In this regard, the PR or any of its officials were not responsible. However, in order to avoid such situation in the future, all freight forwarders have been instructed to proceed with the operation by signing a formal agreement with the freight forwarders of Turkey and Iran before booking.