Rehabilitation of locomotives, infrastructure launched - Pakistan Observer

KarachiSecretary, Railways Arif Azam has said that a number of development schemes have been initiated for rehabilitation of infrastructure and sick locomotives. This he said while briefing the meeting of Senates standing committee on Railways..

The meeting chaired by Senator Maulana Gul Naseeb Khan, chairman of the committee reviewed the affairs of PR including newly launched business train, Karachi Circular Project and encroachments of its land. The committee was informed that the business train was launched on January 2012 in collaboration with a private firm M/S Four Brothers after the approval of the cabinet for provision of better facility to passengers on affordable rates.

The private firm is handling all commercial activities while Pakistan Railways is performing operational activities to operate the this train. The Secretary informed that old tracks are being rehabilitated for smooth train operation. Senator Ms. Suriya Amiruddin proposed that a new train from Karachi to Quetta should also be introduced like newly launched business train.

The Chairman of the Standing Committee said that railways department is the backbone of our economy and stressed the need of taking effective and immediate measures for its rehabilitation. The committee was also briefed about Karachi Circular Railway (KCR), which had been suspended since 1999 due to financial constraints.

It was also informed that the governemnt in the year 2004 decided to revive KCR project to reduce burden on roads. In this connection, proposals were sought from International firms and JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency) showed its interest and has so far completed detailed study. Senator Prof. Mohammad Ibrahim, Senator, Abdul Ghaffar Qureshi and Senator Suriya Amiruddin, attended the meeting.

Meanwhile, Pakistan Railways has completed a project for dualization of track from Lodhran to Khanewal at a cost of Rs 3.298 billion to improve its track infrastructure. Despite meagre financial resources, the Department was striving to keep the track fit for safe train operation and working on different projects, envisaged for improvement and modernization of the system to bring it to the international standard.

A senior official while giving details of the projects on Sunday said dualization of track from Khanewal to Raiwind at a cost of Rs 12.617 billion is at advance stage and is expected to be completed by mid of this year.

The official said a project, costing Rs 9.405 billion for Rehabilitation of Track from Landhi (Karachi) to Kotri 290 km (double track) including 125 km Complete Track Renewal on Sangla Hill to Wazirabad, Khanewal to Shorkot and Hyderabad to Mirpur Khas, 622 km Deep Screening with replacement of defective sleepers and rails and replacement of 375 km sleepers is also in progress. This project is expected to be completed by end of June next year.

He said PC-I, costing Rs. 9.446 billion for improvement and modernization of track from Khanpur to Lodhran has been approved by ECNEC while projects for dualization of track from Shahdara to Lalamusa and Shahdara to Faisalabad at a cost of Rs.14.135 billion and Rs. 5.314 billion have also been approved. The official said a PC-I, amounting to Rs. 17.094 billion for rehabilitation of track from Lahore to Lalamusa has since been submitted to the Planning Commission, to be funded by the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

In fact Asian Development Bank has promised an investment of around US $ 500 million for rehabilitation of track from Lahore to Peshawar in three tranches.