MANY Pakistan Railways' engines are idling at the Karachi Shipyard and Engineering Works (KSEW) for want of spares and more are rotting away in railways' workshops. A photo in Dawn showed six engines that are parked at the Karachi Cantonment workshop because some train services have been suspended.Only two out of the six engines look similar. It seems Pakistan Railways is buying engines from whatever source available. They do this probably without realising that they will need different kinds of spares, the cost of which is substantial. Moreover, buying and stocking more spares means capital getting blocked.

Since the initial days the railways was using General Electric make, Alco brand engines. They ran efficiently for decades. The PR bought engines at different times but from the same source ensuring commonalities of spares. Heavy machines like train engines are quite reliable provided maintenance is carried out at regular intervals. They have also abandoned electric engines, creating reasons for their replacements with polluting diesel engines.

My father was a railway employee. He was a charge man, in a non-management role, when he was sent to the US for about six months to get himself trained on repair and maintenance of Alco engines. When he became loco foreman Rohri, he would test the engines overhauled at Rohri at random and drive them at twice their operating speed from Rohri to Ghotki during test runs. He would do this with two engines connected back to back. One, while going to Ghotki and the other during the return.

It was to ensure that they would run smoothly at 60 miles per hour while in service. This would normally happen on Sundays and I went with him a couple of times during these runs. Railways selected him again for training on electrical engines brought from the UK. It seems this practice of sending people on training is no longer being pursued. Even if it is, it is not bearing fruit.

Also, no effort has gone into local fabrication of spare parts through the KSEW and Heavy Mechanical Complex, nor has Pakistan Railways upgraded its own workshops. One needs to understand as to why there is a sudden urge for replacing electrical engines with diesel engines. Why do we need so many more diesel engines when we have more than 100 standing that can be repaired?

S. NAYYAR IQBAL RAZA
Karachi