KARACHI: Twenty locomotives arrived at Karachi port from China on Friday.

The Pakistan Railway (PR) purchased a total of 58 locomotives from China and of them 34 had arrived in the country. The remaining 24 engines were expected to arrive by December, said Pakistan Railways Workers Union chief Manzoor Razi.

He said that five of the 20 locomotives arrived on Friday were of 3,000 horsepower and the remaining 15 were of 2,000 horsepower.

Know more: PR to get 25 locomotives after Eid

He said eight engines had been unloaded from the ship on Friday and others would be unloaded on Saturday. These engines were expected to reach the railway station in a day or two, he added.

It is worth noting that the PR had had imported 69 railway engines from China during the era of former military dictator Gen Pervez Musharraf but most of them were of poor quality and went out of order within no time. Some 75 engines were to come from China in 2005 but the contract was later cancelled.

Published in Dawn, August 2nd, 2014