Reviving railways: ‘No plans to lease engines from India’

Official says 117 locomotives repaired in one year to improve performance.

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Railways has no plans to obtain locomotives on lease from India, according to Divisional Superintendent Munawar Shah.

Talking to APP, he said that the Central Diesel Locomotive Workshop (CDLW) has repaired 117 engines during last one year, which will help improve railways’ efficiency.

“The workshop has overhauled 80 locomotives and repaired 37 engines from October 2011 to November 2012 and these have been handed over to different railway divisions, including Rawalpindi, Peshawar, Lahore, Multan, Sukkhar, Quetta and Karachi,” he said.

Last month, he said, the workshop overhauled 10 locomotives and as many would be repaired this month. The workshop was functioning to its full capacity round-the-clock and expressed the hope that Pakistan Railways would soon become a profit-earning entity.

Replying to a question, Munawar Shah said Pakistan Railways would soon be able to overcome its deficit and restore more trains in the future on several sections as locomotives were being rehabilitated on a monthly basis.

The government has approved the project “special repair of 150 running locomotives” under the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) and the railways was trying to overcome a shortage of locomotives.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 7^th, 2013.