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| November 11, 2005 | Friday | Shawwal 8, 1426 |
Fuel surcharge imposed on train tickets
LAHORE, Nov 10: Rail authorities have decided to impose a fuel surcharge on the train tickets of those who travel more than 51 kilometres. Every rail passenger whose travel distance exceeds 51 kilometres will have to pay between Rs5 and Rs20 extra, the Pakistan Railways (PR) announced on Thursday.
Railways Minister Mian Shamim Haider said that “the additional amount” would be a fuel surcharge and not an increase in fares. “It will be adjusted according to the increase or decrease in the POL prices,” Mr Haider told reporters after presiding over a meeting of the PR high-ups at its headquarters here.
But the minister said the fuel surcharge would be imposed only after a notification was issued in this regard within a couple of days.
Thursday’s meeting was convened in order to find out why the state-run organization had failed to meet the revenue targets set by Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz.
The minister said the increase in POL prices had so far caused an additional burden of Rs1.3 billion on the railways. “The prime minister did not approve a summary for 5 per cent increase in the rail fares, but allowed us to collect fuel surcharge on the tickets to meet the deficit because of POL prices enhancement,” he said.
Rail fares had not been increased for the last six months or so, Mr Haider said, despite the three-time upward revision in POL prices. By levying the surcharge, the minister said the railways would only get Rs350 to Rs340 million.
The minister insisted that the surcharge was not very high and would not burden the common man. Passengers travelling between 51 and 100 kms would pay Rs5, those travelling 101 to 500kms would pay Rs15 and finally a sum of Rs20 would be charged from those travelling above 501 kms.
Railway documents show that passengers travelling 501 or more kilometres make up only 20 per cent of the total number of commuters, yet they contribute 68.2 per cent of the total income raised from passenger trains.
Those who travel between 251 and 500 kilometres constitute 10.5 per cent and have 12.8 share in the income.
At least 18 per cent travel 101-250 kilometres and contribute 10.76 per cent to earnings.
Some 23 per cent commuters use rail transport to cover 41 to 100 kilometres and their share in the income is just 5.37 per cent.
The lowest earning of just 2.84 per cent is fetched from those who opt to travel through railway for one to 40 kilometres.
The minister said work on the Khokhrapar-Monabao rail link upgradation plan would be completed by the end of next month.
International tenders for the purchase of 25 new locomotives would be called very soon. Earlier, the railways had plans to procure some 100 engines, Mr Haider said.
A probe into misuse of the railway saloon was under way and after its completion responsibility would be fixed, the minister said. However, the former union leader found illegally travelling in a saloon has been removed from his post. “He is no more in-charge of railway grounds,” Mr Haider said.
“I have no differences either with Railway chairman Shakil Durrani or Minister of State Ishaq Khan Khakwani,” the minister categorically told a questioner.
Earlier, presiding over the meeting, Mr Haider directed the officers concerned to explore new avenues to increase freight income.
He also directed the project director of the Lodhran-Khanewal track dualization plan to complete the project by June 30. The project director had told the meeting the track dualization would be completed by July 31.
The meeting also finalized a working paper on the justification for lack of required progress on development projects for presentation of the same to the prime minister.
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