LAHORE: The Pakistan Railways (PR) is going to start from Jan 27 the commercial operations of the new state-of-the-art passenger 46 coaches recently imported from China as the completely built units (CBUs) manufactured by a Chinese firm under an agreement.

The coaches’ operation would begin with the composition of the Green Line Express Train that will resume running from Islamabad to Karachi via Rawalpindi, Lahore, Khanewal and Sukkur.

The operation of the train was suspended in August last year due to the floods and it would be resumed with new Chinese coaches, Dawn has learnt.

“The trial run of the coaches has been completed. After the trial, it has been decided to operate them as a part of Green Line Express Train from Margalla Station (Islamabad) to Karachi with effect from Jan 27,” an official source in the railways said while talking to Dawn on Tuesday.

“The new coaches are well-equipped with modern facilities including Wifi, dining, LCDs, phone charging and others. All services will be free of cost,” he added.

The official said 46 new coaches would comprise three rakes—one will move from Islamabad, another from Karachi and the third would be stationed at Lahore as a spare one.

It merits mentioning that the 46 high-speed modern coaches were received as CBUs from China on Nov 27 last year, paving the way for provision of state-of-the-art rail travel facilities to the masses. Arrangements have also been made to start manufacturing of 184 similar coaches (passenger, luggage and brake vans) under the technology-transfer component of the 230 coaches’ purchase contract. Since the test run of all 46 coaches was recently completed, the railways planned to use them in various express trains on the main line.

“Modern train coaches can run at the speed of 160km per hour,” the official said, adding that the federal government had, in November 2021, inked an agreement with the China Railway Construction Corporation Tangshan Locomotive and Rolling Stock Company for the supply of 230 high-speed coaches to the Pakistan Railways.

PR Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Salman Sadiq Sheikh has termed the commercial operation of the passenger coaches the beginning of a new era of modern traveling in Pakistan.

“The facilities, which will be made available to the passengers during the journey by the Green Line will include high tea, breakfast and lunch of a five-star hotel, high-quality bedding, infotainment and WiFi,” the CEO said while speaking to participants in an online open court he held at the PR Headquarters on Tuesday.

He said the PR, after the hard work, succeeded in restoring operation of its freight and passenger trains gradually, which were suspended due to floods. To a question, he said despite an increase in the fares and freight charges following increase in the POL prices, the PR passenger train fares and goods’ train charges were much less compared to the road transport.

Published in Dawn, January 25th, 2023