Mansoor Sadiq

Pakistan Railways plans to start manufacturing 184 state-of-the-art coaches at Islamabad Carriage Factory (ICF) from May 2023 with the assistance of Chinese engineers under a technology transfer agreement between the two countries. Pakistan Railways will receive a total of 230 coaches under a $140 million contract with a Chinese company, of which 46 were manufactured in China and following their consignment to Pakistan, have been made part of Green Line Train Service plying between Islamabad and Karachi since January 2023. The rest 184 coaches will be manufactured at the ICF under the supervision of Chinees experts. The raw material is likely to land in Pakistan from May 2023.

The new coaches received and built in Pakistan with Chinees collaboration will bring significant improvement in Pakistan’s train services as these have been designed to run at the speed of 160km/h, whereas the current maximum speed limit for trains in Pakistan is 120km/h. A senior official at the ICF told WealthPK that preparations for manufacturing 184 modern coaches in Pakistan are right on track.

The official said that under mutual collaboration between Pakistan Railways and Chinese firm, machinery plants and respective equipment and manufacturing facilities will be installed in Pakistan, which will substantially boost the overall performance of the department and facilitate the masses. He maintained that out of 184 coaches to be manufactured at the ICF, 92 will be manufactured from cut-to-size material, while 92 others will be manufactured from raw, unprocessed material as the tender also envisages complete transfer of technology for the manufacturing of air spring bogie with a speed limit of 160km/h.

Muhammad Afzal Kolachi, Public Relations Officer (PRO) to Federal Minister for Railways Khawaja Saad Rafique, told WealthPK that Chinese assistance for Pakistan Railways will prove a milestone in building a sizeable industrial base in Pakistan. He said transfer of technology agreement between Pakistan Railways and China will strengthen the technological capability of Pakistan, and in coming years, Pakistan would be able to manufacture these modern coaches independently in the carriage factories of the country. He said Pakistan is also working on the parameters for the upgradation of railway tracks.

Another similar agreement has also been signed between a Chinese firm and Pakistan Railways for the manufacturing of 800 freight wagons and 20 brake wagons. Out of these 820 total wagons, 200 will be manufactured in China and provided to Pakistan Railways, while the rest would be manufactured in Pakistan under the Chinees technology transfer agreement.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan-WealthPk