Number of railway passengers increased by 6.51 million in 2023-24: Data

ISLAMABAD - Around 41.91 million passen­gers traveled by train during 2023-24 compared to 35.40 mil­lion in 2022-23 - an increase of 6.

51 million in the annual count, according to the data of Paki­stan Railways. According to the data, a total passenger earning in the fiscal year 2023-24 was Rs. 47.



712 billion, exceeding the budgetary target by a margin of Rs. 8.712 billion.

Besides, there is an increase in earnings by Rs. 13.799 billion as compared to the earnings of the previous fi­nancial year 2022-23.

The revenue generated through other means in the fiscal year 2023-24 was Rs. 39.803 billion which in­cludes freight, military traffic, prop­erty and land, scrap and others, it added.

The railway authorities are hopeful that the number of railway passengers will rise further during the upcoming year. Pakistan Railways has made special arrangements to facili­tate passengers at stations and in trains en-route including pro­vision of state-of-the-art dining cars, mobile charging sockets are provided in coaches and provision of water dispensers in coaches to provide clean drink­ing water to passengers. Besides this, the department has installed Ticket Vending Machines (TVM) for purchasing tickets, informa­tion counters to guide and facili­tate passengers, digital display boards for arrival and departure of trains and provision of wheel chairs and ramps for disabled people.

To improve the punctu­ality of trains, Pakistan Railways is removing speed restrictions through special maintenance of track, signaling system is being improved through computerized interlocking and installation of solar system, locomotive failures are being removed through time­ly maintenance and new passen­ger coaches are being inducted. Redressal of passenger com­plaints, the department has es­tablished a state-of-the-art call center under Railway Automated Booking and Travelling Assis­tance (RABTA), passengers can also lodge their complaints on Pakistan Railways’ website and complaint registers are also pro­vided at stations and in trains so that the passengers can lodge their complaints. “If a contrac­tor is found selling substandard products, they are fined and is­sued a warning.

Upon receiv­ing three fines, the contractor’s agreement with Pakistan Rail­ways is terminated,” it added..