LAHORE: Unloading of first batch comprising five units of the 58 locomotives the Pakistan Railways (PR) will get from a Chinese company, will begin at Karachi Port on Monday (today).

A ship carrying five completely built-up locomotives, each having capacity of 2,000 horsepower, entered Pakistani waters and docked for unloading, an official of the Ministry of Railways told Dawn on Sunday.

The locomotives would be kept in purpose-built sheds and special staff had been deployed for their care and maintenance. The Chinese company would provide two-year maintenance and assistance for these locomotives.

Before adding the locomotives to the PR fleet, a two-week trial would be conducted to technically evaluate their performance.

“Down payment to Chinese company CSR Zihang was made in September last year and the PR is likely to get all the 58 locomotives – 29 of 2,000 HP and as many of 3,000 HP -- in phases by the end of this year. Addition of new locomotives will help further improve punctuality of passenger trains in particular and better freight service in general,” said the official.

The second batch of nine locomotives, each of 2,000 HP capacity, has been sent from Shanghai Port and is likely to arrive within a fortnight or so. The third batch, also of nine locomotives but of 3,000 HP capacity was on its way to Shanghai Port.

The official said the new locomotives, especially of 3,000 HP capacity would mainly be used for freight operations.

Freight service is the major source of income for railways worldwide and the Pakistan Railways used to earn at least Rs6 billion annually from the operation of eight to ten freight trains from Karachi for various upcountry destinations daily.

An acute shortage of locomotives in May 2011 had forced the railways administration to suspend all cargo trains from Karachi. Suspension of passenger trains and availability of locomotives resulted in restoration of freight service of four trains daily in December the same year. However, the freight service witnessed several ups and downs primarily due to locomotives shortage and the number of freight trains leaving Karachi remained one or two daily.

After about three years, Pakistan Railways got a boost in December last year when five freight trains started leaving Karachi for upcountry destinations.