ISLAMABAD, Feb 11 (APP): 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.
