Endeavours Increase Railways Revenue To Rs. 36581.864 Mln In 2015-16

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 11th Feb, 2017 ) : Pakistan Railways revenues have increased to Rs. 36581.864 million in year 2015-16 as against Rs. 18069.546 million in year 2012-13, registering a net gain of Rs.

18512.318 million in three years. The deficit of Pakistan Railways stood at Rs. 30.504 billion on June 30, 2013 when present government took over. The same has been brought down to Rs. 26.993 billion on June 30, 2016 i.e.

a reduction of Rs. 3.511 billion over a period of three years. This is despite the fact that expenditure has risen from Rs. 48.535 billion in 2012-13 to Rs. 63.154 billion during 2015-16. The increase in expenditure is mainly due to increase in pay, pension and allowances as a result of budget announcements and can not be curtailed.

Official sources while highlighting steps taken by present government to reduce deficit of Pakistan Railways on Saturday said passenger sector earned Rs. 20871. 630 million during year 2015-16 as compared to Rs.

12982.218 million in 2012-13, thus registering a growth Rs. 7889.412 million in three year. The freight sector earned Rs. 10585.903 million during year 2015-16 as compared to Rs. 1673.661 million in year 2012-13, registering a growth of Rs.

8912.242 (532.5 per cent) in three years. The sources said Pakistan Railway managed to load 2,43,794 wagons of different commodities during year 2015-2016, registering an increase of 26.24 percent as compared to wagons in year 2012-13.

The other measures included introduction of competitive freight rates to diversify traffic from road to rail, preference to block train loads, FDA based agreement with Maple Leaf Cement Factory and MOUs with Awan Trading Company and Chishtian Logistics for transportation of Coal and allocation of dedicated locomotives in freight pool, improved from 10 locomotives in 2012-13 to 65.

The sources said preference to high rated commodities like POL, in land coal transportation agreement with M/S Ruy; Shendong from transportation of 4.2 million tons imported coal from port to coal Fired Power Plants at Sahiwal and improvement of terminal facilities to curtail loading and un-loading time were some other steps taken.

The sources said the Department introduced high capacity/ high speed Hopper Trucks for swift movement/unloading of coal, introduction of dedicated new high horse power (4000 to 4500 HP) locomotives for freight transportation, upgradation of existing track on main corridor ( ML-1) is being conducted under China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and established Freight Transport Company to explore new avenues for future freight traffic.

In passenger sector, the sources said the Department adopted measures which included outsourcing of commercial management of four trains to generate a revenue of Rs. 3.35 billion per annum, outsourcing of commercial management of Luggage Vans and Brake Vans with different rains under Public-Private Partnership (PPP), reduction/rationalization of fares of different trains attracting more than 5.1 million passengers to travel by train and introduction of Green line train between Rawalpindi-Karachi via Lahore with extra facilities and amenities.

The sources said Wi-fi facility is being introduced in selected trains and at major stations for on-the-go free internet services for passengers. The sources said addition of different trains in phases to facilitate passengers, introduction of e-ticketing in 36 trains, infrastructure improvement at important Railway stations to provide passenger facilitation and modern business areas within station premises besides integrated commercial development, phase-wise replacement of economy class coaches by air conditioned/standard coaches, attaching of extra coaches to fetch more revenue on different occasions and improvement of on-board catering facilities and hygiene of cleanliness.

The Department also took some other steps to improve financial health of the Department which included introduction of different packages: concessions in different classes by different trains to maximize use of assets, rationalization of fare structure to make it more competitive with road sector and running of special trains on eve of Eid-ul-Fitr, Eid-ul-Azha, Urs of Lal Qalander Shahbaz, Urs of Bahauddin Zakaria, Besakhi and Tableeghi Ijtimah etc.