Pakistan Railways (PR) has pumped up its revenue target for the current financial year from Rs28 billion to Rs31 billion on the back of past 17-month progress towards revival of the company, says the railway minister.
Not only this, the PR management has decided to restrict current expenditures to Rs62.5 billion compared to the government’s earlier estimate of Rs65 billion.
Speaking at a press conference along with general managers and other officials of the railways here on Saturday, Khawaja Saad Rafique said the PR would bring down its expenses by balancing out the recruitment and retirement of employees as in some of its production units the workforce was in surplus. “The excess staff was hired in lower grades on political grounds,” he claimed. PR would make all-out efforts to reduce its losses by the end of the financial year as revenues from freight and passenger traffic as well as land utilisation were rising, he remarked.
A survey is under way to assess the occupancy ratio in passenger trains, which will help the railways earn an additional about Rs1 billion and increase the number of coaches on high-occupancy trains.
In the current year, the PR is undertaking steps to earn Rs7 billion in freight charges compared to Rs3.5 billion in the previous year. At present, 45 locomotives are being used to handle freight traffic and the number will be increased to 70 by June next year.
“Three cargo express trains are run between Lahore and Karachi in a week and we plan to increase the number to 12 to cover Multan and Faisalabad as well in coming months,” Rafique said. “This will enhance revenue and promote employment opportunities for labourers and others.”
Also, 10 locomotives of the National Logistics Cell (NLC) will be added to the PR fleet on November 14 as negotiations are in the final phase.
Regarding the dispute over PR land, Rafique said only the government of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa had handed over the pieces of land in its use to the company whereas other provinces were delaying the matter despite repeated requests.
The railways’ management is also working on a plan to invite private investors and district governments to develop green belts and nurseries on useless land close to the railway tracks.
It will construct stalls, shops and shopping centres on spacious land near the tracks to fetch more revenue.
In reply to a question about the quality of food in dining cars, the minister said there would be no compromise on quality and prices, and fares of trains would remain low compared to road transport.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 9th, 2014.
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