Pakistan Railways is spending Rs.1862.84 million for the rehabilitation of 518 kilometres of track between Kotri-Khanpur under the project of Immediate Track Safety Works (ITSW-I).
Despite financial constraints, the management of Pakistan Railways is putting maximum efforts into improvement in infrastructure including tracks, bridges, stations etc, an official in the Ministry of Railways told APP.
Under the project of rehabilitation of Karachi Port tracks, 24-kilometre tracks, 17 level crossings and seven bridges have been rehabilitated along with the replacement of turnouts.
The official said that Railway Dry Ports at Lahore (Mughalpura), Badami Bagh and Azakhel have been upgraded. He said under the Immediate Track Safety Works (ITS W-II & IMTS W-III), the railway track between Tando Adam-Khanpur covering 456 kilometres would be rehabilitated at a cost of Rs. 4830.437 million and Rs.4875.461 million respectively by replacing the US components of the track by ensuring the safety of train operation.
A PC-I amounting to Rs.4930.22 million for the rehabilitation of track machinery has been approved which would ensure quality of track maintenance work.
Meanwhile, 11 stations have been upgraded including Peshawar, Hassan Abdal, Rawalpindi, Gujranwala, Lahore, Narowal, Nankana Sahib, Raiwind, Okara, Sahiwal, and Bahawalpur, under PSDP projects.
The project of upgradation of Main Line-I at a cost of $6.683 billion has been negotiated with the Chinese side for completing the ML-1 in two phases consisting of four packages, he added.
About the assets of Pakistan Railways are mainly related to the track (11881 kilometres), rolling stock (15699) etc and most of these assets have lived their useful life.
Therefore, he said the department has taken several measures for efficient maintenance of these assets which included an increase in fiscal space for maintenance through transfer of pension, reduce utility bills through solarization, improving procurement management through prioritized procurement and an efficient fuel management system.
He said the department is gradually shifting from manual to a mechanized track maintenance regime for enhanced productivity and quality while improved governance of the maintenance system through the introduction of IT-related interventions (ERP, etc) and provision of professional human resources was also among the top priorities.
Regional Connectivity is an important aspect of the Pakistan Railway development framework. Presently, Pakistan Railway has planned to improve its functional links with regional countries including India and Iran, he added.
Furthermore, the official said the following new rail links would be established including Uzbekistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan (UAP) Railway connectivity project through Kohat-Kharlachi.