LAHORE, July 10 (DNA): The Pakistan Railways reduced its expenditures by Rs 1.5 billion and increased revenue by Rs 1.5 billion during the financial year (FY) 2020-21.

Chairman Railways Habib-ur-Rehman Gilani congratulated Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Nisar Ahmed Memon and his team on this achievement through hard work.

Presiding over a meeting on train operations, safety, track Inspection, feedback and accident prevention at the Railway headquarters here on Saturday, he said that the PR earned more revenue during the said period than the previous year.

“We need to focus on track inspection, capacity building and awareness creation to improve our operational efficiency, safety and customer care,” he said.

The PR chairman said that the Federal Government Inspector of Railways (FGIR) and the Chief Operating Superintendent of Safety should be provided with all the required personnel to improve the quality of facilities and ensure the safety of lives and property of people and safeguard the assets.

He said that short-, mid- and long-term plans should be made for the recruitment of technical personnel in the railways and a plan should be worked out for the next two years to know how many people were retiring and how many people need to be recruited.

Earlier, the newly appointed Chief Finance Officer Railways Mohammad Hamid Mahmood gave a briefing to the chairman Railways on how to increase the revenue and how to improve its financial matters.

Gilani said that the PR staff and officers should coordinate with the business development advisor to set priorities for increasing the railways revenue. The chairman said that during the Eid holidays, the focus should be on track inspection and vigilance so that there would be no shortcomings in the train operations.

The meeting was also attended by Secretary Railways Board Zafar Zaman Ranjha, FGIR Farrukh Teymour Ghalzai, AGM Infrastructure Asif Matin Zaidi, AGM Mechanical Salman Sadiq Sheikh, Chief Finance Officer Mohammad Hamid Mehmood, Bizarro Chief Operating Superintendent (COPS) Sufyan Sarfraz Dogar, Director Public Relations Nazia Jabeen.