Pakistan Railways (PR) has handed over the commercial management and maintenance of 14 trains to private parties. The department formed a Public Private Partnership through a bidding process.
Ministry of Railways officials said that the main objective is to provide better facilities to passengers and generate more revenue.
The privatized trains include Mehr, Farid, Faiz Ahmad Faiz, Mehran, Sir Syed, Badr, Ghori, Mianwali, Mohenjo-Daro, Thal, Tezgam, Subak Khurram, Rawal, and Ravi Express passenger trains.
High-Speed Trains
In a recent development, China shipped the first 46 of 230 high-speed train carriages to Pakistan, which will arrive in Karachi within the next three weeks. According to the details, the coaches will reach Lahore via the Karachi-Lahore railway line following their arrival.
Speaking to Dawn News, Additional General Manager (Mechanical) Shahid Aziz confirmed that the 46 coaches have left China and will arrive in Pakistan in less than a month.
A Chinese company has produced 230 high-speed carriages under a $140 million deal. Note here that the 46 coaches are completely built units (CBUs) while PR’s engineers will manufacture the remaining coaches in Pakistan with assistance from Chinese specialists.
In a separate deal, a Chinese company is developing 800 freight wagons and 20 brake wagons. PR will source a small number of them from China, and build the majority in Pakistan as per the technology-transfer strategy.
