LAHORE, Dec 13: The Pakistan Railways on Tuesday added a fuel surcharge of up to Rs30 per ticket in its fares, effective from Thursday. According to railways officials, the surcharge would be charged at a rate Rs15 on a journey of 51 to 100 kilometres. From 101km to 500km, the surcharge would be Rs25 and Rs30 from 501km and beyond. No surcharge would be charged on a journey less than 50 kilometres.

Railways officials said the department had suffered a loss of Rs1.2bn on the account of fuel bill since November last, when it last time raised fares. The current increase would generate an additional amount of Rs550 million, still leaving a deficit of Rs650 million for railways. The officials insisted that new surcharge would not be a part of the railways income.