Railways sets revenue target at Rs 10 billion

Pakistan Railways has set a target to generate revenue of Rs 10 billion in one year by providing better facilities to passengers and running new freight trains. This was revealed by Minister for Railways Sheikh Rashid in a press conference on Wednesday.
He said the railways generated revenue of Rs 2 to 3 billion in 100 days and it would surpass the targeted Rs 10 billion revenue of previous year after introduction of freight trains.
Defending the raise in railways fares, he said the fares of 100 trains were not increased but the fares of 40 trains were raised.
Talking about future planning, he said that Pakistan Railways started two trains from Quetta to Karachi which offered cheaper rates to passengers. The fare of Kushhal Express and Rehman Baba was nominal, Rs 1,350. He said that new freight trains would start from December 25 and Rehman Baba passenger train would also start running on track on December 23, he said.
The minister said that WiFi services will be provided at all the railway stations across the country and trackers will be installed in all the engines.
He maintained they would add additional coaches on Green Line with extra facilities as the fare of Green Line was increased more than other trains. "The fare of this service was increased by Rs 500 and normal fare increased by Rs 100," he said.
The minister said that the earning of railways reached Rs 97 million in one day due to trust of passengers in railways. He said that railway is an integral part of CPEC and the desired results of the economic corridor could not be achieved without developing the railway track. "Work on ML-II and ML-III will also be started soon as rail tracks are running amidst 65 percent of total population of Pakistan," he said.
He said that along with Chinese firms, Korean and Russian companies are also taking interest in railways projects in Pakistan.
He said that he was appointed as focal person for rehabilitation of Nullah Leh and with the cooperation of Pak Army owned National Logistic Cell and FWO, they would construct a signal free link road from Soan (Rawalpindi) to Islamabad on BOT basis.
He said the work on Nullah Leh would start hopefully in the beginning of next year and the Prime Minister and the Chief Minister Punjab would decide the rate of payment at toll plazas.