Pakistan Railways increases fares following petroleum prices hike

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Railways on Wednesday announced increasing fares for passenger, express, and mail trains, marking the second increase within 15 days, ARY News reported.

According to a notification issued here, the Pakistan Railways a 2 percent fare increase will take effect from July 4 for express and passenger trains. The 2 percent fare hike will also extend to advance bookings as per the notification.

The decision was taken in the wake of rising petroleum products prices including diesel.

According to an official, the Pakistan Railways had been incurring a monthly loss of approximately Rs 109 million due to the rising cost of diesel.

The railway department directives have been issued to the Director of IT and the DS to ensure compliance with the updated fares.

It may be noted here passenger train fares were raised by 3 percent, while freight train fares saw a 4 percent increase on June 18.

The federal government increased petroleum products’ prices for the ongoing fortnight ending on July 15, pushing the petrol price up by Rs 8.36 per litre.

As per a notification issued by the Ministry of Finance, the petrol price was increased by Rs14.80 per litre, bringing the new petrol price to Rs266.89 per litre.

Similarly, the price of high-speed diesel was raised by Rs10.39 per litre, with the new rate set at Rs272.98 per litre.