Pakistan Railways is planning to modernise the signal system over the entire main rail line from Karachi to Peshawar. The project would cost Rs 15 billion to make the entire railway system at par with the high technology system and to match the present day needs of high speed and stringent safety standards.
Sources in the Pakistan Railways told this scribe that various projects were under discussion to remove the obsolete signal system in the country to avoid the rail accidents and enhance the performance of the railways.
They said that for the implementation of the project experts of Pakistan Railways had visited different countries to get first hand knowledge about the products. They would use their expertise here in this project, they added.
They termed the signal and interlock system as critical and most sensitive part of the railway infrastructure.
The mechanical type of signalling prevalent at the time of Independence has been gradually replaced by modern signal systems mostly during the 1960, they added.
They said the project for the change of entire signal system would be taken into hand and stepped up in three phases. In the first phase from Kotri to Rohri would be changed, while in the second phase from Rohri to Lodhran and then Lodhran to Khanewal and in third phase the signal system from Khanewal to Peshawar would be changed, they added.