Railways chugs ahead with Rs41b earnings

Defying the odds of floods and financial constraints, Pakistan Railways has steamed into the current fiscal year with raking in Rs41 billion, which is 46% or Rs13 billion more than the earnings in the corresponding period of last year.

This upsurge in revenue in the first six months of 2023-24 can be attributed to a multi-pronged approach adopted by the railways authorities. Passenger traffic played a major role, contributing Rs24 billion, while the freight sector chipped in with Rs11 billion. Other departments also fetched Rs5.5 billion.

The number of operational trains has also seen a boost, with 96 passenger trains plying the tracks compared to 86 last year. The freight trains have also witnessed a similar increase, with the average daily trains running from 3.75 freight trains last fiscal to seven this fiscal.

Addressing concerns about employees’ salaries, officials have assured that the issue has been resolved and will streamline further once the Mainline-I (ML-I) project gains momentum.

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Inflationary pressures and rising fuel costs have necessitated fare hikes in both passenger and freight segments, a move expected to bolster revenue in the coming months.

Safety remained a top priority, with a drastic decrease in passenger train accidents reported. Only six minor incidents, with no casualties, occurred on the entire network in the last three months, according to a railways ministry official.

"Only two train accidents have taken place in September, no accident happened in October and four train accidents occurred in November due to effective steps of the department,” he said. “The drastic decrease in accidents has been witnessed due to the efforts being undertaken to reduce trespassing at unmanned level crossings and unauthorised locations, he added.