PR daily suffers Rs90m flood-induced losses

ISLAMABAD:

 

Pakistan Railways have been suffering losses of around Rs90 million per day due to unexpected monsoon rains and flash floods that have wreaked havoc across the country, officials in the Ministry of Railways said on Sunday.

“The relentless monsoon rains and floods have not only destroyed the
many railway tracks, but also damaged the bridges which disconnected
Sindh and Balochistan with other parts of the country,” the officials noted.

They said during the last month, Quetta was disconnected from the rest
of the country after bridge collapse at Mach Station, which had resulted
in the cancellation of seven important trains between Karachi and
Quetta.

Pakistan Railways had also announced suspension of operations of five
express major trains on the Main Line-I (ML-I) a few days ago until the
rehabilitation of railway tracks, they said.

The officials said the main line of Pakistan Railways was under the flood-water between Tando Masti Khan-Gambat and Mehrabpur-Lakhro sections. Similarly, the track was sub merged at various spots in Balochistan.

Read: Economic impact of floods in Pakistan

Sources maintained that Pakistan Railways had already asked the passengers who wanted their tickets refunded to contact the respective reservation offices.

They noted that the flood water would drain in the next seven to 10 days, which would allow for the rehabilitation and eventual resumption of operations while the freight van operations have been resumed on a few tracks at a slow pace of 10-20 kilometers per hour.

The sources said Pakistan Railways and district administrations of Sindh, Balochistan had utilised all available resources to restore the rail service in flood affected areas across the country.

“On the direction of Minister for Railways Khawaja Saad Rafique, the department is putting maximum efforts for rehabilitation of railway track in Sindh, Balochistan and other affected parts of the country shortly.”

They said Pakistan Railways also directed to complete the ongoing survey of the affected installations on a war footing and speed up the
rehabilitation process.

“The technical and non-technical staff of the department was working in three shifts to restore the tracks once the flood water recedes,” the sources added.

Meanwhile, the Pakistan Railways is planning to procure as many as 25 diesel electric locomotives for various shunting points across the country which would help to replace outdated locomotives that to be scrapped very soon.

Read: US enhances Pakistan’s flood aid by $20 million

The project for the procurement and manufacturing of 25 shunting locomotives would be implemented in three years at an estimated cost of Rs14 billion, sources in the Ministry of Railways said on Sunday.

Currently, sources said that only 51 locomotives were being operated for this service against the 98 shunting points at various railway stations across the country. Additionally, most of the old locomotives would be discarded due to high maintenance costs.

Sources said the project was aimed at procuring and manufacturing 25 shunting diesel electric locomotives of 2000-2200 horsepower HP to replace the overage and uneconomical locomotives.

DNA with input from APP