“The department has finalized all arrangements regarding Eid special trains to facilitate the passengers and an announcement will be made soon,” a railway ministry official told.
The official said that Pakistan Railways will not only publish the schedule of the Eid special train in daily Urdu and English newspapers but also disseminate it on social and electronic media.
To a question, he said Pakistan Railways has earned Rs 55 billion in the first eight months of the current financial year 2023-2024 despite facing a financial crisis due to monsoon floods.
During the first eight months of the last financial year (2022-23), the department earned Rs 37 billion, which is a historic increase in revenue over the same period of the current financial year (2023-24), he added.
According to the data, he said that out of the revenue of Rs 55 billion, revenue came from passenger and freight trains, while other sectors of the resort also contributed to the total revenue.
The department expects to generate revenue of up to Rs 80 billion by the end of this financial year due to consistent efforts and hard work of the railway workers, the official added.
At present, he said, Pakistan Railways is running 96 passenger trains, compared to the previous year when 86 trains were running. In the same way, last year it dispatched an average of 3.75 freight trains, this year there were seven of them.
He said the department emphasized that the issue of delay in payment of salaries to the employees has now been resolved and things will be more efficient once the work on the Mainline-I (ML-I) project starts.
The official said due to inflationary pressures, led by high fuel costs, Pakistan Railways has increased its fares, both in the passenger and freight segments, which would help the cash-strapped company achieve better revenue in the next few months.
