Punjab Announces Huge Subsidy for Metro Bus and Orange Line Train Passengers

Punjab Finance Department has allocated Rs. 5 billion as a subsidy for the Orange Line Train and Metro Bus.

The primary aim of providing these funds as a subsidy is to offer discounted travel options to passengers. The Finance Department has facilitated the release of this subsidy to the Mass Transit Authority through an online process.

The Orange Line Metro Train (OLMT) built under the framework of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), has won the prestigious award “Brands Icons of Pakistan 2023” in the category of Metro Rail Transit System. It has already won two prestigious awards at the Brands of the Year Awards 2021.

As an early-harvest project of CPEC, the Orange Line project was jointly constructed by China Rail­way Group Corporation and China North Industries Corporation, and it was put into operation on Octo­ber 25, 2020, in the capital city of Punjab province, making it Paki­stan’s first-ever mass rapid urban transit train service.

A few weeks earlier, Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz, along with her father and PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif, chaired a crucial meeting focused on enhancing the transportation infrastructure in the province, including an underground train project in Lahore and the implementation of metro bus projects in three cities of Punjab. During the meeting, the chief minister emphasized the need for meticulous planning for the underground train project in Lahore and sought a detailed plan in this regard.