Friday, February 24 2006 14:17 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Railways have decided to increase profits in passenger business by adopting a new strategy, Railway Minister Lalu Prasad said today (Feb 24,2006).

"We have succeeded in increasing profits in freight segments by adopting the 'increase volumes-reduce unit costs' strategy," he said presenting the Rail Budget in Lok Sabha.

"It has been decided to adopt the same strategy in passenger business too, and work towards cutting losses," he said.

Prasad said a decision has been taken to cut down losses in the coaching services by about Rs 1000 crore in the coming year and by 50 per cent in the next three years by increasing the number of coaches and occupancy of trains, reducing travel time and reducing losses in the catering and parcel segments.