Bangladesh Railway's (BR) revenue from ticket sales has increased with achieving the monthly target of earning for the first time in the history of the state-owned train operator.
BR has been able to achieve the revenue target due to its efforts to improve the capacity of the railway in recent years including addition of new coaches to its fleet, officials said.
They said checking the train tickets by ticket examiners also helped increase railway's income.
According to officials, BR earned Tk 1.2 billion against its target of Tk 1.1 billion set for December 2016. It would also help the authority achieve the annual target in the current fiscal year.
"BR has been able to increase ticket sales in the last few months. But its monthly sales exceeded the target for the first time," said an official.
He said the railway earned Tk 940 million in November last year. The revenue target for the month was set at Tk 950 million.
According to the official data, during the period between July and December in the fiscal year 2016-17, BR was able to earn Tk 6.07 billion, up by Tk 1.46 billion than that of the same period in the FY 2015-16.
BR earned Tk 4.61 billion during the July-December period in 2015. Its earning amounted to Tk 940 million in December 2015.
The officials said earnings from passenger coach services have increased due to addition of 230 new coaches in the last few years.
The country's lone train operator carried 67.34 million passengers in 2015 while it was 65 million in 2014, 62 million in 2013 and 66 million in 2012.
Despite success, the BR's loss remains as high as before. The data showed that BR incurred loss of Tk 8.72 billion in 2015.
Though investment in the BR increased by 60 per cent every year during the last seven years, its progress did not reach a desired level comparing to investment.
smunima@yahoo.com
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