KARACHI, July 2: The Pakistan Railways, Karachi Division, surpassed the revenue target by Rs135 million with more than six billion rupees annual income during the fiscal 2003-04.

This was stated by Divisional Superintendent Railways, Junaid Qureshi in an interview on Friday. He disclosed that the Karachi Division had generated a revenue of Rs5.995 billion on passenger and freight accounts during the financial year 2002-03.

He pointed out that passenger and freight traffic registered an increase in revenues because of improvement in the facilities of goods transportation as well as for the comfort of passengers.

The operation of "Summer Special" as well as addition of extra coaches in regular trains also contributed to an increase in the revenue, he said. On the freight side, he referred to the introduction of a new container carrier comprising Chinese-manufactured wagons, which could be operated at a speed of 100 miles per hour reducing the transit time between Karachi and Lahore by 16 hours.

Mr Qureshi pointed out that the railways transported 2,200 containers through this container train during the last month, which was a landmark achievement winning the confidence of trade and industry.

At present, he said, an average of 11 trains of goods were being operated from Karachi to Lahore as against seven trains during March and April. He further said that the Pakistan Railways was clearing 850 wagons daily for upcountry.

Regarding some development plans, he said that the construction of a new platform with modern facilities at Karachi Cantonment Station was under way. The project, he added, would be completed by September this year at a cost of Rs20 million. Besides, he said that the existing 50km rail track between Hyderabad and Tando Adam stations was being replaced with new rails and sleepers. -APP