ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Railways offers competitive freight rates and revises them regularly to divert cargo traffic from road to rail to reduce deficit of the organisation.
In this regard, the Ministry of Railways is taking several steps. Freight trains are being increased to earn more revenue and tariff is being regularly revised to increase customers, an official in the ministry told APP.
The official said that availability of locomotives, through repair, in freight pool has increased up to 50 units a day, which has made it possible to start more than six freight trains daily from Karachi Port.
This strategy has increased the cumulative earning and Pakistan Railways is set to surpass revenue target of Rs 28 billion fixed by the government, he said.
The official said that Cargo Express Train between Karachi Bandar and Badami Bagh Lahore has been reintroduced from September 2014 to facilitate traders.
He said that induction of 10 leased locomotives from National Logistic Cell and 15 new locomotives would further enhance freight productivity.
A scarp policy to override corruption in the sale of scrap has since been introduced. Scrap will be sold out through open, advertised competitive bidding, supervised by a committee of principal officers to ensure transparency.
He said that latest commercial policy of identifying and bringing the loss-giving trains at break-even, and making low-profit trains more productive, is being introduced. This would further enhance the revenue generation, he said.
The official said that the latest land reclamation and evaluation policy would further enhance the revenue for Pakistan Railways.
