Railways announces increase in fare for all trains

Pakistan Railways has announced a fare increase for all trains, with effect from tomorrow as notification issued on Thursday stated that fares would be increased by 1% for all mail, express, intercity, and passenger trains, including outsourced services.

This adjustment was being implemented under the rationale of fare rationalisation.

Moreover, the fare for all freight and goods trains would see a 2% increase.

All stations, booking offices, reservation offices, and relevant staff had been informed in this regard.

Meanwhile, Pakistan Railways has collected an amount of over Rs76 million from ticket-less passengers in a crackdown during the last six months with the help of railway police and train staffers.

“Around 59,143 passengers found travelling without tickets in different trains and collected the said amount from them, which is deposited in the official bank account of the department,” sources in the ministry told APP.

They said that it was not the first time that action was taken on a large scale against ticket-less passengers, adding that these types of crackdowns had taken place daily.

The sources said that ticketless travelling was illegal, and those who were caught without a ticket were charged a ticket price for the whole journey of the train besides the penalty.

Those who do not pay are handed over to the railway police.

In response to a question, they said that Pakistan Railways Police claimed to have arrested a total of 4,384 accused due to their involvement in violations of rules and laws and also registered some 3,803 cases against them in eight Railways divisions in one and half year.

"Around 688 cases were registered in Peshawar Division, 584 in Rawalpindi, 1,103 in Lahore, 369 in Mughalpura workshops, 378 in Multan, 238 in Sukkur, 365 in Karachi, and 78 in Quetta Division," they added.

They said the Railways Police Help Desks had been established at all the major railway stations across the country, and the performance of the Railways Police has been quite satisfactory during the last year.

Regarding the performance of the railway police, they said: "Police are performing duties efficiently despite the limited resources, and the performance of the railway police will be further improved to the optimum level during the next year."