Federal Railways Minister, Ghous Bux Khan Mahar, handed over the locomotives to the Railways with a drive on one of the engine along with the officials of the Dalian Locomotive Factory.
Also present on the occasion were Chairman Pakistan Railways, Khurshid Ahmed, General Manager Operation, Aurangzeb Khan, General Manager Manufacturing and Services, Maj Gen (Rtd) Hamid Hasan Butt, Divisional Superintendent, Israr Alvi, Deputy D.S. Nasreen Huq, besides senior officials from the Railways Headquarter Lahore and the Karachi Railways Division.
The locomotives are being supplied by China in response to an international tender, a contract for procurement/manufacture of 69 locomotives. The agreement for supply of 44 locomotives of 3500 H.P and 25 of 2500 H.P, was signed with China in 2001.
Mr Mahar described the occasion as a “big day”. He said the Railways badly needed rails, coaches, wagons, locomotives, signalling system and above all the interest and love of the workers to keep it running as they were the ones who maintained the system.
He recalled the achievements of the previous Railways minister and said efforts made by him to bring the railways back on the track were bearing fruit today.
“Still we have to go a long way and we are trying our best to achieve the desired goals”, the minister told the gathering adding that “for the attainment of this we all will have to work hard together”.
Referring to Pak-China friendship, the minister said it was lasting. He said that when no one was ready to grant us loan for the procurement of badly needed engines, China came forward and gave us not only the engines but also loans by China Exim Bank.
These locomotives, he observed, were as good as German and Japanese ones, but cheaper than any other locomotives in the world.
On the occasion, Mahar announced an award of Rs1 million for the employees of the Karachi Railways Division.
Earlier in his address, Chairman/ Secretary Railways, Khurshid Ahmed, said that the procurement of the 60 locomotives at a cost of 98 million dollars was an extremely cheap transaction.
The Pakistan Railways, he pointed out, was already importing 174 passenger coaches, out of which 40 had already arrived and were in operation between Karachi-Lahore and Rawalpindi-Quetta.
He said that for track improvement, rails worth 23 million dollars had been purchased from China and the consignment had started arriving.
He informed that some more agreements were under way with China for the Railways’ modernisation.
Mr Khurshid said the Railways’ financial condition had also significantly improved with revenues going up from Rs8.8 billion in 1998 to Rs14 billion at present.
General Manager Manufacturing and Services, Maj-Gen Hamid Hasan Butt, said the next consignment of seven locomotives was expected to arrive here by August 16 and the ship carrying them had already left China.
He quoted Chinese experts describing those locomotives as their best product in the 102 years history of the Dalian Locomotive Factory. He said that after the delivery of those fully built 15 locomotives, the rest would be assembled at the Risalpur Locomotive Factory with transfer of technology by China. He said three teams of Railways engineers were in China for the transfer of technology to Risalpur.
According to him, the first lot will reach Risalpur by the end of August and the second in September-October. “We plan to roll out the first locomotive assembled here in February 2003 and after initial trials it will be put before a train on March 23, 2004. He said efforts were also being made to produce the first locomotive built with Pakistani and Chinese parts after the completion of the present programme.
The ceremony was also addressed by Project Manager Mr Woo Wee Dong, Sung Yang and Vice-President of China’s Dong Fang Company.
They said that those engines had been supplied to Pakistan on supplier’s credit which was another profound expression of Pak-China friendship.
They stressed the need for greater and deeper relationship in the economic sector as it would further strengthen the already stable geographical and political relationship.
They said those engines had been produced keeping Pakistan’s weather conditions in view where heat was high and dust was enormous.
The ceremony was also attended by Additional General Manager Passenger, Iqbal Khatri, MNAs and MPAs.
Under the agreement with China, 15 Locomotives - eight of 3000 H.P and 7 of 2500 H.P are being imported in completely built-up (CBU) condition for extensive trials for testing their performances in our ambient/ operating conditions to identify any problems.
Over 12000 locomotives built by Chinese manufacturers for speed up to 180 Km per hour are operating on the Chinese railway system.
As the Pakistan Railways is buying locomotives from China for the first time, extensive field trials in our operating environment will be carried out first to test their reliability.
The remaining 54 locomotives will be imported in SKD/CKD condition and manufactured at the Locomotive Factory in Risalpur in three years.
As a result of local manufacturing, a saving of Rs1 billion in foreign exchange is likely to be made.
LINKS WITH INDIA: The minister said the Railways was fully prepared to resume the rail link with India.
Talking to newsmen after the handing over ceremony, the minister said India wanted the operation of freight service first while Pakistan wanted resumption of passenger and freight services simultaneously.
“If we receive a go-ahead signal from the foreign office tomorrow, we will be ready to operate the train tomorrow evening.”
To a question about his statement for an increase in the fares, the minister pointed out that any increase in the fares should be linked with the rising prices of fuel and spare parts. He said he had directed the authorities to review the fare structure soon.—APP