Rehabilitating 27 locomotives: US firm given order for spare parts

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Railway (PR) has placed an order for spare parts with Electro Motive Diesel (EMD) of US for rehabilitation of 27 locomotives, sources told Business Recorder on Tuesday.

However the rehabilitation process will take between six to eight months while purchasing a new locomotive would take about 18 months and in the near future there is no sign of bringing Railway back on track, sources maintained. The Railways Minister has demanded 400 new engines. However, according to sources, the demand was not likely to be met any time soon because of financial crisis.

Sources also said that the rehabilitation of 27 locomotives would be undertaken at the Mughalpura Railway Workshop in Lahore. The spare parts for engine rehabilitation will arrive in Pakistan as soon as the order for procurement was placed with the US-based company after the completion of tendering formalities.

Of the 494 locomotives owned by Railways, 148 of them are being operated by PR and it is expected that by the end of this year, this figure will rise to 180.

Sources maintained that it will take about 18 months to purchase a new locomotive and the delay will further worsen the crisis. Pakistan has 5' 6" gauge while US and Europe have standard gauge. Therefore, making a locomotive specifically for Pakistan would take more time. In other words, Pakistan will have to place a special order to purchase a new locomotive.

Sources said that the Ministry of Finance had agreed to open a Letter of Credit (L/C) against providing Rs6.1 billion for spareparts for repairing 96 locomotives. The tenders are going to be opened on July 22 and the entire process is expected to be finalised by August 15 this year.

Officials further said that promises made by the government to provide financial assistance did not materialise which is why PR is stopping running trains almost on daily basis because of a severe shortage of locomotives. Over the past two weeks, PR shut down 22 trains on various routes.

Ghulam Ahmad Bilour, the federal Minister for PR, stated on the floor of the house that with the ongoing pace of PR recovery, he did not think that this government, which has only nine months left, would be able to make any significant improvement in its operation.

The Minister defended his position and said that PR was not doing any better when he took over charge in 2008 as it suffered from mis-governance and carried bad loans obtained by the past governments.