ISLAMABAD
Pakistan Railways has achieved an unprecedented earning of over Rs 88 billion in the outgoing financial year 2023-24, despite facing a financial crisis due to floods in the monsoon season.
The government had set Rs 73 billion as the revenue target of Pakistan Railways during the just concluded financial year. The department surpassed the target through the consistent efforts and hard work of the Railway workers,” official sources in the Ministry told media.
They said that during the last financial year (2022-23), the department earned Rs 63 billion, a historic 40 percent increase in revenue collection during the same period of the financial year (2023-24).
The sources said that out of the total revenue of Rs 47 billion was derived from passenger, Rs 28 billion from freight trains while Rs 13 billion generated from other sectors of the department. They said the department is committed to increase the revenue generation from Rs 100 billion.
At present, they said that Pakistan Railways is operating around 96 passenger trains, up from the previous year when 86 trains were running. Similarly, during the previous year, on average it operated 3.75 freight trains while the number reached seven freight trains this year.
To a question, they said that Pakistan Railways has beefed up preventive measures to reduce passenger train accidents. Only six minor accidents with no causality took place on the entire railway network in the country during the last three months.
The drastic decrease in accidents has been witnessed due to the efforts being undertaken to reduce trespassing at unmanned level crossings and unauthorized locations, they added.
“Our staff is continuously monitoring the railway tracks across the country and conducting thorough inspection of the trains as the safety of the passengers is the top priority of the department,” the sources said.
