‘Railways has capacity to repair 8 engines monthly’

Projects underway to steer national carrier into profitability.

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Railways (PR) has the capacity to repair around eight engines every month, subject to availability of spare parts and funds.

An official of Pakistan Railways said that the railways’ workshop had repaired a number of locomotives, which will be used for freight service and passenger coaches. He said work on dualisation of Lodhran-Sahiwal track had been completed while dualisation of Raiwind-Sahiwal section was underway. The completion of these projects will help reduce travel time between Lahore and Karachi.

To a question, he said, according to an estimate, running about 15 to 20 goods trains can steer the railways out of the prevailing financial crunch if operated on a regular basis. Work on replacement of obsolete signalling system on Lodhran-Shahdara Bagh section will be completed by 2013. The project for replacement of Old Obsolete Signalling Gear (OBSG) was approved by the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) on February 6, 2008 at a cost of Rs10.72 billion.

The contract was signed with the consortium comprising Bombardier Transportation Sweden and China Railways Signal and Communication Corporation (CRSC) on December 30, 2009. Islamic Development Bank agreed to give $140 million for the project.

Public-private partnership is being introduced for good governance in PR as it will bring transparency in the ticketing system, the official said.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 19^th, 2012.