LAHORE, May 29: The Pakistan Railway will start working as a corporation from July 1 on an experimental basis, PR chairman Lt-Gen Saeeduz Zafar (retired) told reporters on Wednesday after chairing a meeting here.

He said if the six-month experiment proved a success the railways would be transformed next year into a corporation.

To increase its earnings, Gen Zafar said, the organization would focus on freight business. At present, he said, it was earning more than its operational expenditure but was forced to seek funds for development projects from the federal government or rely on a State Bank overdraft. He claimed that the overdraft had declined form Rs7 billion to Rs4 billion.

He said the recent increase in fuel prices would increase Railways’ operating cost by Rs452 million. Only half the additional cost, he sad, had been transferred to passengers through a 5 per cent fare increase. The increase, he said, would not affect 52 per cent of railway passengers who travelled on routes less than 100 kilometres long.

Gen Zafar said the railways would import 1,600 freight wagons, including 300 oil wagons, and 175 passenger coaches from China, along with transfer of technology.

He said none of the 16 express trains plying on the main track would be closed or suspended. “The trains have been improved and refurbished and passengers are happy with their performance,” he claimed.

With the increase in freight wagons and locomotives, the number of goods trains from Karachi to upcountry would be increased. At present there are 10 daily trains.

The PR chairman also said some multinational companies had been approached to install a new communication system on the railway network on the build-operate-transfer basis.

The system, he said, would be operative within four years. The railway would rent out the surplus capacity.