LAHORE - Railways Minister Khawaja Saad Rafique Saturday claimed that the annual income of Pakistan Railways (PR) has increased one hundred percent during the tenure of the incumbent government.

Talking to newsmen after inaugurating "Rehabilitated Diesel Locomotive and New Hopper Wagons" at Lahore Railway Station, he said that new hopper wagons were being used for the speedy transportation of coal for new coal-fired power plants.

He said that Pakistan Railways will earn Rs 5-6 billion profit in a year by providing coal transportation service only for Sahiwal Coal Power Project.

The minister said the revenue of Pakistan Railways has increased from Rs 8 billion in 2013 to 36 billion till June of this year.

He stated “We will earn revenue of forty billion rupees by June next year 2017 and cross the target of thirty-six billion rupees.”

He said that revenue through freight trains has also been increased from about two billion rupees annually in 2013 to eleven billion rupees in the year 2015-16 and by June next year it will be sixteen billion rupees.