Pakistan Railways (PR) will start a train service to transport coal from Port Qasim Karachi to Sahiwal coal fired power plant by the last week of January. This was informed by Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Pakistan Railways Javed Anwar Bubak here on Monday.
Talking to press after the arrival of 7 out of 55 freight-specific locomotives at Karachi Port from US, CEO Pakistan Railways said the General Electric's (GE) manufactured 4000 hp locomotives would be operated for coal and freight transportation in the country.
Initially, we are running a single train for Sahiwal. The GE locomotives will be used to exclusively haul freight, primarily coal, from Karachi to Sahiwal. Together, the 7 locomotives will help railways to generate revenue of about Rs 13 billion annually, Javed said. Each locomotive will be used to haul up to 3400 tons of freight.
Later, PR will run 5 trains daily for this purpose, carrying 12,000 tons of freight," he added. "These new locomotives will provide better fuel efficiency and longer overhaul cycles than other units in Pakistan today, substantially reducing the costs of transporting essential freight. We are proud to be able to procure this state of the art technology which would help to develop the country's transportation sector, Javed concluded.