Pakistan Railways to start receiving first shipment of 320 new passenger coaches from China on December 22

Lahore: Pakistan Railways (PR) will start receiving first shipment of 320 new passenger coaches from China on December 22.

A PR spokesperson announced that the coaches had been ordered to a Chinese company.

He informed that the modern coaches would be equipped with latest facilities and could run at the speed of 160 kilometers per hour, facilitating the passengers.

Pakistan and China’s CRRC Tangshan Locomotive & Rolling Stock Company had inked an agreement in November 2021 for the supply of 230 high-speed coaches to Pakistan Railways as part of a plan to upgrade and enhance long-distance passenger services in the country.

“Out of 230 passenger coaches, the first consignment of 40 coaches will arrive in Pakistan by December (22), which would have the capacity to run at the speed of 160 kilometers per hour,” Babar Ali Reza, the spokesperson for PR stated.

He did not share the cost of incoming passenger coaches from China but it was estimated at the time of the contract signing that each economy-class coach would cost US $ 694,000, standard air-conditioned coach US $ 794,000, and an air-conditioned parlor would cost US $ 859,000 upon arrival in Pakistan.

The PR spokesperson mentioned that the current maximum speed limit of Pakistani trains was 120 kilometers per hour and the new Chinese coaches would be suitable for higher speed limit after the upgradation of railway tracks.

The PR, is already inspecting prototype models of the state-of-the-art passenger coaches and high-capacity freight wagons it wants to procure from a leading Chinese company.

Several junior and senior officials have been traveling to China to inspect the models as per specifications and designs and some will soon take part in training being organised by the Chinese firm as a part of two different contracts to transfer technology of manufacturing modern coaches in Pakistan.

“Under US $ 140 million contract (Pakistani Rs 31 billion approximately) awarded by Pakistan Railways, a Chinese company is liable to manufacture 230 state-of-the-art passenger coaches, out of which 46 will be provided to us in the form of completely built unit (CBU) and the remaining 184 will be manufactured here in Pakistan by our engineers and technical staff under supervision of the Chinese,” PR’s Chief Mechanical Engineer (CME) Abdul Haseeb explained.

“The contract of procuring 800 wagons and 20 brake wagons is separate to this contract,” he added.

The manufacturing of 184 coaches in Pakistan, according to him, is a part of the contract called “Transfer of Technology” after which the PR would not require any help from China for manufacturing of such rolling stock.