Pakistan Railways revenue jumped to Rs 50 bln: PM told

Lahore : Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi Tuesday chaired a briefing on Pakistan Railways at the PM office.

The meeting was informed that in 2012-13 total revenue from passenger operations stood at Rs 18.20 billion which had increased almost three times to Rs 50 billion.          

Minister for Railways Khawaja Saad Rafiq briefed the prime minister about various measures that were taken during the past four years for the revival of railway.

The prime minister appreciated the efforts made for the revival of railway and stressed upon the need for adoption of modern practices for improvement of infrastructure and providing quality services to the passengers which should remain top priority of the ministry.

The railways minister said as a result of adoption of a comprehensive business strategy, infrastructure investment, tariff rationalization, introduction of right mix of service and emphasis on better and transparent management, significant increase of passenger and freight revenues had been achieved.

The ministry was now working on a modernization and upgradation plan for the railway, he added.

Similarly, the revenue from freight operations has also increased from 1.500 billion to Rs. 12.420 billion during the same period, said PM Office media wing in a press release.

The government, the minister was, committed to transform the organization into a vibrant and fast improving entity capable of service delivery at international standards.

Talking about the future plans, the minister briefed the prime minister about early harvest project under CPEC that included upgradation of existing main line ML-1 (from Peshawar to Karachi) and establishment of a dry port near Havelian.