ISLAMABAD: The first fleet of 20 state-of-the-art coaches of Pakistan Railways from China would arrive in Pakistan by the end of the current month to provide comfortable and international standards journey to the passengers.

“Pakistan Railways has procured 230 new passenger coaches from China, which will not only facilitate the passengers but also generate more revenues for the department,” an official in the Ministry of Railways told APP.

He said that Pakistan Railways had already allocated Rs 21,712 million for the project “Procurement and Manufacturing of 230 Passenger Coaches” in the current fiscal year 2022-23.

Pakistan Railways has worked out a plan to replace old and obsolete signal gear from Lodhran-Multan-Khanewal-Shandara Bagh mainline section during the current fiscal year, he added. He said Pakistan Railways had allocated one billion rupees for the project titled ‘Replacement of old and obsolete signal gear from Lodhran-Multan-Khanewal- Shandara Bagh mainline section.’ “The signaling system of 44 stations was automated by Computer Based Interlocking (CBI) over Shandadpur-Mirpur Mathelo and Lodhran-Shandara Bagh section,” he added.

The initiative, he said, had considerably improved the arrival and departure timing of trains owing to swift operation in the automated section. The engineering restrictions on tracks were being removed to curtail the running time of passenger trains.

“Pakistan Railways is rigorously pursuing Main Line-I project under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) to upgrade its track which faced delay during the last four years,” he said.

He said Rs 5 billion were already allocated for the ML-I project in the current fiscal year 2022-23. The project would increase train speed from 120 to 160 km per hour, he added. The official said the journey time would be reduced by half after the implementation of the project.

To a question, he said the 50 kilometers Narowal Chak Amru section was closed in 2005 due to huge recurring operational losses, an over-aged track, and a non-remunerative section.

He said that one train 229-UP and 230 DN used to run from Lahore to Narowal Chak Amru Station and back, only on Sundays, and occupancy of this train was only 14 percent for the year (2004-2005).

The official said that presently there was no proposal to operationalize the said section as an estimated amount of Rs14,758 million was required for the rehabilitation of track, bridges, level crossing, and stations of the section, which keeping in view the commercial potential of the section was not viable.