The Karachi Railway Division has been able not only to meet but surpass the revenue targets given on account of freight and passenger traffic. This can be judged from the point that Pakistan Railway met 1,000 wagons target of its entire system in the month of March, with 50 percent share contributed by Karachi Division alone and the remaining by six other divisions.
The Divisional Superintendent Railway, Karachi Division, Mir Mohammed Khaskheli told APP that Karachi Division was given passenger revenue target of Rs 2,562 million for the current financial year as against Rs 2,285 million last year and achieved a revenue of Rs 2,212 million till March 2007.
"We achieved this despite the fact that Ranpathani Bridge, which was washed away by heavy rains, hampered the railway traffic for more than 45 days". Similarly, on the freight side, Karachi Division was given a revenue target of Rs 3,162 million as against 2,298 million last year and so far the Division had been able to earn a revenue of Rs 2,343 million, higher by Rs 42 million over the last year's target.
"We earned this revenue despite Ranpathani Bridge episode", Khaskheli informed. The DS Railway said that for the last three months, some 27,000 passengers travelled daily to upcountry destinations through 23 mail and express trains, showing a significant increase in the occupancy ratio of trains.
Talking to APP, the Deputy DS Railway Maqsood-un-Nabi pointed out that in view of growing number of passengers as well as trains and resultant increasing number of inquiries, the inquiry information office "117" had been renovated and upgraded with number of telephone lines increased from 6 to 16, which would be further raised to 20 soon.
He said the new inquiry office had been set up at DS Office. To a question the DS Railway said in view of growing freight business because of better marketing practices, the railway had increased the number of freight trains from Karachi, from 7 to 9.
Recently, he informed, a dedicated express freight train had been pressed into service for Multan and Faisalabad. It operates from Karachi Bandar, an area, which remained unutilised for long and many organisations had been eyeing on its land.
He said another express freight train was pressed into service, operating from the city station. He said that at present a wagon yields Rs 65,000 for round trip while railway's freight tariff was about 30 percent less than the road cargo tariff. The railway carries cargo to destinations in 35 hours while trucks take 2-3 days and that is why the businessmen are preferring to send their cargo through railway.