LAHORE: The Lahore Orange Line Train completed the two years of its operation on Tuesday. Up to 50 million passengers have travelled on the train since the commercial launch of the project on Oct 25, 2020.

The company responsible for the operation and maintenance of the project organised a ceremony here on Tuesday, which was attended by the counsel general of ina in Lahore, Chinese engineers, Pakistani staff, senior officials of the Punjab Masstransit Authority (PMA) and others.

A representative of the Orange Line Metro Train said the train has cumulatively travelled 25 million kilometres, completing 200,000 trips with 99.99 per cent punctuality. The company achieved 97 per cent of staff localization and 50 million ridership.

Talking to Dawn, a senior official of the PMA said up to 20 million passengers used the facility from Oct 25, 2020 and Oct 25, 2021. But during Oct 25, 2021 to Oct 25, 2022, the number of passengers increased to 30 million, which shows passengers are switching to the metro train system due to increasing oil prices. Films about the project were screened at the ceremony, and awards were given to outstanding staffers.

The hi-tech trains operate daily from 6am to 10pm every five minutes from Ali Town to Dera Gujran through 26 stations.

The project was constructed by the China Railway Group Co Ltd, and the China North Industries, while its operations and maintenance are managed by Norinco International with Guangzhou Metro Group and Daewoo Pakistan Express Bus Service Ltd. The project has created more than 2,000 local jobs.

The project also secured a top award at the Brands of the Year Awards of 2021, the ‘Emerging Brand of the Year’ in the category of urban rail transit and the ‘CEO of the Year 2021’, awarded by the Brands Foundation.

appointed: The Punjab government has appointed and notified new members of the Punjab Masstransit Authority (PMA) after the chief minister formally accorded approval.

According to a notification issued by the transport department, the new members of the authority have been appointed under section 3(6)(b)(d) & (e) of the PMA Act 2015 read with the item 14 (b), sub item (a) of the third column of the fourth schedule of Punjab Rules of Business, 2011.

The members notified were retired Col Ghazanfar Abbas (MPA,PP-128), who will also work as vice chairman of the authority, Ghulam Ali Asghar Khan Lehry (MPA, PP-80), Chaudhry Iftikhar Hussain Gondal (MPA, PP-81), Shamim Aftab (MPA, W-303), Khadija Umer (W-362), Sohaib Sheikh (Director Consumer Marketing & Corporate Communication, High Noon Group), Ahsan Ali Chughtai (senior banker / financial sector expert) and Khawar Hayat (Managing Director, New Staff Line Coaches).

RETRIEVED: In an anti-encroachment operation launched jointly by the Pakistan Railways (PR) Police and the Lahore division office near Imamia Colony, the officials retrieved 12-kanal commercial state land worth Rs120 million from the land grabbers.

The officials also dismantled several constructions made by the illegal occupants at the PR land, according to a spokesman for the PR police.

Published in Dawn, October 26th, 2022