Pakistan Railways finalises plans to upgrade tracks

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Railways has finalised arrangements for the upgrade and construction of more than 50,000 kilometres of tracks across the country on build, operate and transfer (BOT) basis.

In this regard, the railways ministry invited Expressions of Interest (EoI) for the pre-qualification of contractors, after which 10 companies were selected through a bidding process, officials told APP.

They added that rehabilitation and improvement of existing tracks would also be carried out to achieve higher speeds of up to 160 km per hour for which feasibility studies of some of the sections were being conducted.

The BOT mechanism will resolve financing issues, which have remained one of the main hurdles in the way of implementing various projects.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 13^th, 2017.

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