LAHORE, May 4: Some 65 freight wagons have reached here from China. The Pakistan Railways will import 1,300 freight wagons from China under an agreement. Of them, 420 completely built wagons will reach here within a year after the payment of the first instalment.

The remaining 880 would be brought in knocked down condition and assembled in Pakistan. PR general manager Aurangzeb Khan told newsmen at a press conference here on Monday the new wagons would revolutionize the dwindling PR freight business.

The Chinese container wagons have 60 ton capacity and a speed of 100 km per hour. At present, the PR wagons have 40 ton capacity and a speed of 60km per hour. Mr Khan said the Chinese wagons, which were being run on a trial basis between Lahore and Karachi, would be formally added to the PR fleet from this month.

"The induction of modern wagons will attract more private companies for freight transportation", he said. The GM said 15 locomotives had also reached the country and eight more were due by October this year.

He said the feasibility of linking the Gwadar Port with the railways' network would be completed by June 2005. The Chaman-Kandhar project would be undertaken during the next fiscal year and would be completed within a year, he added.

Regarding the double-track of 121-km long Lodhran-Khanewal track, he said its first phase from Sher Shah to Shujabad would be completed by June this year. He said the PR had set up a museum -- Rail Virsa -- at Golra Sharif near Rawalpindi. Canada had provided two locomotives for the museum, he added.