ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Railways is managing rehabilitation and special repair of 177 locomotives through Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) at a cost of Rs. 11.289 billion.
The repair of non-operational locomotives would improve their reliability and performance and ultimately proved to be an earning entity for the organization.
According to an official information here on Tuesday, procurement of 58 locomotives has also been approved and contract awarded to a Chinese company. So far all 58 locomotives have been arrived in Pakistan.
Furthermore, tender for the procurement of 55 locomotives (4000-4500 HP) out of 75 locomotives is at an advance stage and will be decided in near future.
With regard to a pilot project for manufacturing of five 3000 HP DE locomotives at Locomotive Factory, Risalpur, the Department said contract agreement has been signed and Letter of Credit (LC) established. So far, five locomotives have been turned out and the project is expected to be completed soon.
The Department said so far 38 locomotives have been rolled out during 2013-14 and 39 locomotives turned out up to April, 2015.
Under new initiatives, Ministry of Railways is making efforts to improve performance and achieve tangible results.
Listing the steps, the Department said in line with government's vision 2025, for infrastructure development during the next ten years, Pakistan Railways is to undertake necessary steps to increase its share in the overall transport sector from 4 percent to 20 percent.
Ministry of Railways is also in process of preparing Railway Strategic Plan (RSP) to operationalize the targets set in the vision which would provide a long term framework for railway sector development in the country.
The revival of Railways Board is being actively pursued as part of overall reform agenda, tariff is being regularly rationalized based on market dynamics mainly to improve occupancy and increase revenue of railways and improve availability of locomotives through special repair of existing locomotives and procurement of new locomotives.
The other steps include : oil reserve remained low (sufficient for two days), which has now been substantially enhanced to 12 days to streamline train operation, an introduction of a system as a pilot project in Lahore to improve pension disbursement, automation for pension payment. It will be expanded to entire railway system.
Pakistan Railway has also involved private sector in management and operation of terminal facilities including dry ports. Prem Nagar dry port Lahore is the first successful model of joint venture between Pakistan Railways and two private parties.
Moreover, Real Estate Development & Marketing Company (REDMCO) has been established and registered with Security and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) with an aim to exploit the potential of railway land.
A comprehensive policy for disposal of surplus scrap has been introduced with an aim to improve financial position of railways through an open, fair and transparent process.
Investment planning through a system approach rather than functioning in isolation is being pursued and under this approach, investment in all components of railways system including infrastructure development, rolling stock availability, business development and governance is being made.
The strategy is expected to bring significant improvement in near future.
Economic Corridor development and regional connectivity
are important initiatives, which are expected to play vital role in national economic growth. Upgradation of Mainline-1 (ML1)
and construction of dry port and cargo handling facility have
been included, as Early Harvest Projects (EHP) under China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and preparatory work on these projects has been initiated on fast track basis.
A project titled "Infrastructure for e-Office at Ministry of Railways" is also being initiated while a new air-conditioned train with free meals, beddings, Wi-Fi, newspapers has been started from Islamabad to Karachi and back, called Green Line Train.
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