LAHORE: Minister for Railways Khwaja Saad Rafique says engineers from China will be reaching here on Tuesday (today) for the inspection of faulty locomotives.

Talking to reporters here on Monday after the inauguration of refurbished Business Express, he said at least 16 locomotives procured from a Chinese firm over a year ago had been grounded or excluded from the PR fleet after cracks appeared in their frames.

After last year accident of Jaffar Express in Balochistan, railways engineers inspected all the locomotives supplied by a Chinese firm and found that 16 of them have “under frame” cracks.

“Such locomotives are unsafe for hauling trains, especially carrying passengers,” said the minister.

Saad inaugurates Business Express

After a thorough inspection of the locos, the railways administration would decide whether the damaged under frames would be replaced or the firm would replace the faulty locomotives with new ones, he said.

“It is not possible to ground all the Chinese locomotives. Replacement of the entire Chinese fleet in one-go is also not possible. It can hamper the rail operations. We are serious about achieving revenue target set by the government for the ongoing financial year. We will continue to utilize some of the less damaged locomotives for freight sector before replacing them in phases,” said Mr Rafique.

The PR would set up a designing wing in its mechanical department while research and development cells would also be established on an urgent basis.

“These departments should have been in the railways long ago. In future, a third party consultant will be hired before signing any agreement for the procurement of locomotives. All the locos will be procured on the basis of the design approved by the consultant,” he said.

To a question, Mr Rafique said that any move to privatize railways would not be considered at least during his tenure.

Pakistan Railways had in 2013 signed an agreement with CSR Ziyang Locomotives Co Ltd for the procurement of 58 locomotives -- 29 of 2,000 HP and as many of 3,000 HP.

A down payment of $48.431 million was made in September 2013 and the PR got the first fleet of five locomotives in April 2014. APP adds: The minister said Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) will probe cracks in the foundation of 16 locomotives.

He said these locomotives were under warranty and Chinese experts were coming to examine them.

To a question, he said evaluation of financial damage would be calculated after the arrival of Chinese engineers.Saad said the former private contractors of the Business Express were defaulter of billion of rupees of the Railways.

He said train capacity had been increased from 486 to 958 while lower A/C and Economy classes had been introduced to facilitate the maximum number of passengers.He said facilities of WiFi, LED, mineral water, curtains, special staff for maintenance of cleanliness, modern washrooms and public address system were being introduced.

“The train will cover the distance between Lahore and Karachi in 17 hours and 30 minutes,” he added.Regarding a question about fencing of the track, he said it was part of China Pakistan economic Corridor and would be done in phases.

Published in Dawn, February 9th, 2016