Pakistan Railways receives first batch of high-speed rail coaches from China

KARACHI: Pakistan Railways on Sunday received the first 46 out of 230 new high-speed passenger coaches from China.

The new rail coaches reached Karachi port and will be transported to Lahore by the Karachi-Lahore main line-1 by end of this month, the authorities said.

Pakistan and China’s CRRC Tangshan Locomotive & Rolling Stock Company 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.

The PR spokesperson said that passenger rail coaches will include 80 compartments each for economy and air-conditioned class, 30 parlour cars, and 20 vans each for luggage and brake.

Two hundred freight vans will be imported, while 620 of such bogies will be prepared at the factory, he added.

Under $140 million contract (Rs31 billion, approximately), the Chinese company is to manufacture 230 state-of-the-art passenger coaches, of which 46 will be provided as completely built units and the remaining 184 will be manufactured in Pakistan by the PR engineers and technical staff under the supervision of the Chinese experts.

It merits mentioning that the PR is working to upgrade the dilapidated track (ML-1) as the Khanpur-Kotri section is not fit for high-speed train operation.