KARACHI, Jan 27: The railways track rehabilitation project costing Rs7.191 billion to address rail traffic in Sindh is going on apace between Landhi and Kotri.

The project envisages the replacement of existing 100 RE rails with heavier section UIC51, said Junaid Qureshi, divisional superintendent of Railways while talking to APP here on Thursday. The project was finalized at a high-level meeting held under the chairmanship of Railways' General-Manager (Operatins) Abdul Wahab Awan here few months back.

Mr Junaid said the replacement of 320-km tracks would take about one year to complete. Starting at Landhi towards the Kotri side, the work had already been completed up to Bin Qasim, he added. He said replacement of the existing rails would help improve the speed of trains while passing through the length of Sindh.

At present, the trains are being run at a speed of 105 kilometre an hour but after the track rehabilitation the speed could be increased to 140 km an hour. He said 78,000 tons of rails, including 14,000 tons of Austrian rails, and the remaining Chinese were already available with the Railways. - APP