The study, shared by Railways with
Dawn, shows that PR’s Karachi division, which has been entrusted with the management of freight trains, generated an all-time high freight revenue of Rs18.76bn in FY21 and surpassed the collection of Rs17.75bn achieved in FY19.
The cumulative tonnage loaded in all freight wagons during FY21 stood at 6.40 million tonnes, which is the highest since FY94, while surpassing the previous best of 6.321m tonnes in FY19. In addition, Karachi division loaded 215,291 freight wagons during FY21 — unmatched since FY94 — against the previous highest of loading 214,792 wagons during FY18.
A comparison of Karachi division’s five-year freight performance kicks off from revenue generation of Rs10.48bn during FY17. The transshipment of coal to two 660 MW coal-fired power plants in Yousufwala from January 2017 kicked a new era for freight service, with burgeoning revenues. During FY18, FY19 and FY20, Pakistan Railways’ Karachi division freight revenue escalated to Rs17.02, 17.2 and 17.75bn, respectively.