LAHORE: “The Pakistan Railways (PR) has decided to outsource 34 commercial trains of which 17 trains have received bidding which will be finalized in the first week of the next month. Concessions given to 17 categories on rail travel including journalists will continue in the outsourced trains.”

Chief Executive Officer of Pakistan Railways, Nisar Ahmad Memon, said this while talking to reporters at Railway Headquarters on Saturday.

He further said the management of commercial outsourced trains would be allowed to increase fares by a maximum of 10 percent but they could reduce it at their own discretion. The service and quality of trains will be improved under new agreement.

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Talking about the financial health of Pakistan Railways, he said during the current fiscal year Rs 1.5 billion were saved as compared to last fiscal year but the PR had to pay to 130,000 pensioners due to which financial condition could not improve.

During the last year, the revenue was Rs 50 billion and the expenditure was Rs 95 billion. During the last year, Rs 38 billion was paid in the head of pension and there is an annual deficit of Rs 45 billion.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021