RAWALPINDI: Pakistan Railways has finalised the designs for upgrading the signal system and doubling the rail track from Karachi to Peshawar under the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), the work on which will be completed in two phases.

A senior official of the Railways Ministry told Dawn that in the first phase of the project, work will be done on the rail track between Karachi and Lahore as well as the track between Rawalpindi and Peshawar. He said work on this will be started in June this year and the tenders will be called in April.

The track and signal system between Lahore and Lalmusa and Lalmusa and Rawalpindi will be upgraded in the second phase. However, the kilometre long Kala Dina loop near Jhelum will be upgraded in the first phase in order to eliminate the curve in that section, where a new track will be laid, the official said.

The official added that Pakistan Railways is getting $8.3 billion for installing a double track and improving the signal system under CPEC.

After tracks are doubled, trains will be able to maintain higher speeds, travelling time will be cut down by half

“After the up gradation of the track and signal system, trains will be able to maintain the speed of 160kph. Trains can now only travel at between 90 and 100kph,” he said.

He said that after the double track is installed, the time it takes for a train to travel from Rawalpindi to Karachi will be reduced from 18 to eight hours and from four to two hours from Rawalpindi to Peshawar. After the project, it will take a train 2.5 hours to travel between Lahore and Rawalpindi instead of five.

The official said this will also boost business for the railways because it will be the quickest way to travel. It takes 4.5 hours to travel between Rawalpindi and Lahore on the motorway now, he added.

The official said the number of trains will also be increased after the project is completed and that 171 trains will then travel between Karachi and Lahore, when there are just 37 trains on that section at present.

“We are using a centuries old signal system, which has been improved in some areas, but there is still a need for up grading the whole system,” he said.

Pakistan Railways currently uses two signal systems including mechanical interlocking and automatic interlocking systems.

In the mechanical interlocking system, a main cabin manned by railway officials controls traffic. Cabin men lower the signal manually using the levers installed at the signal box. The signal towers are still lit by kerosene oil and station masters use oil lamps to give red and green signals to the trains.

In the automatic interlocking system, signals are operated via electricity. Most stations are still using mechanical system while automatic system including the all relay interlocking, automatic block signalling and centralised traffic control are only provided at certain stations.

Published in Dawn January 17th, 2017