LAHORE: Pakistan Railways (PR) on Tuesday signed agreements with a Chinese and a Pakistani company for laying optical fibre at the Right of Way (RoW) on two major routes of the rail network.

The companies have also paid the charges of over Rs333 million in advance to the department, according to a senior official privy to a meeting held here at the PR’s headquarters to sign the agreements.

“The entire payment has been made in advance to the department at the rate of Rs36 per metre for laying optical fibre at the PR’s right of way. The first route where Chinese company will lay the cable is Kemari to Peshawar Cantt (Main Line-1/ML-1) which consists of 1,681 kilometres in total. The second route where a Pakistani company will work is the Kemari to Lodhran and Multan via loop line and then Gujrat to Lahore Cantt. This consists of total 1,049km,” the official told Dawn by telephone.

To a question, the official said definitely the laying of optic-fibre cable, besides the areas nearby the railways’ RoW, will also benefit the railways in having services related to internet/Wi-Fi in passenger trains.

Chinese, Pakistani firms have paid Rs205m and Rs133m, respectively, to lay cable at PR’s right of way

According to the department, the Chinese company has paid over Rs205m to the PR for laying optical fibre at Kemari-Peshawar route whereas the Pakistani company has also made a payment of Rs133m. The period for both the contracts is three years that can be extended with mutual understanding. PR’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Amir Ali Baloch signed the agreements with the representatives of the companies on behalf of the department.

“The PR is heading towards increasing its incomes through various avenues. And signing of agreements with international and local companies will help railways increase its income,” Mr Baloch said while speaking on the occasion.

“I think, it will also help us in having various business ventures with other companies too in near future,” he hoped.

Speaking about the suspension of rail traffic towards Quetta, Balochistan, due to security situation and other issues, the CEO said the resumption of the rail operation would take two weeks.

“As soon as the security situation improves, we will immediately restore the train operation for Balochistan from rest of the country. He said the ongoing rains are affecting the train operation across the country.

Published in Dawn, September 4th, 2024