Pakistan Railways

[wap7]

News Beat | Meher Bokhari - November 18 2010 Talk Show @ Pakistan Herald

The Railway Minister travels in a PR train with an lady interviewer. The question of loco shortage is mentioned often.

Minister states that PR has only 154 operational locos out of a fleet of 530. He also mentions that the new Chinese locos fail after 2 years while the American locos work for 10 years without problems.

Spacious looking coaches, good finish and nice padding on the seats!

Taken from here

 

[F-16_Falcon]

Long ago visited karachi on shalimar express. it was a good experience.

 

[wap7]

Did anyone bother to see that video? The minister explains what is wrong with PR and what is needed. It's sad to see you guys are more interested in bickering against USA, India etc., than be concerned about your country.

Railways form a central part of developing countries. For India it is a core network. The country would fall apart without it. Be concerned.

This forum is full of people who get off by posting inflammatory comments about each other. Indians *and* Pakistanis.

 

[ajpirzada]

watchin it right now.......

 

[xenia]

44pc of rail engines out of order


By Zaheer Mahmood Siddiqui


LAHORE, Nov 24: At least 44 per cent of the locomotives the Pakistan Railways has at present are out of order either because of unavailability of spare parts or maintenance.

“Out of a fleet of 515 diesel electric locomotives, only 290 are operational,” says a report of the mechanical department.

“Of the 225 held up locomotives, 66 are awaiting spares, 27 undergoing normal maintenance, 82 undergoing unscheduled maintenance and 50 are temporarily discarded on account of accidents, damages, fire or awaiting condemnation.

“As many as 152 locomotives are pulling passenger trains, 47 hauling freight trains and 91 being used for shunting or departmental services,” according to the report finalised on Tuesday evening.

Of the 225 out of order lo comotives, 127 are of American origin, 51 of Japanese origin, 38 of Chinese origin and nine of German origin -- 56 per cent out-of-order locomotives are of American origin, 23 per cent of Japanese origin, 17 per cent of Chinese origin and four per cent of German origin.

The American locomotives have gone out of order because of serious damages to their crankshafts and power assemblies. Only nine out of 30 or 30 per cent are operational at present. Out of 69 Chinese locomotives, 31 or 44 per cent are in working order.

Seven Chinese locomotives, which were burnt in riots after Benazir Bhutto’s assassination, are awaiting repairs. In fact, 31 out of 62 available Chinese locomotives -- 50 per cent of such locomotives -- are operational, said the report.

A former chief mechanical engineer told this reporter that locomotives were commonly described as ‘power’ within railway circles and the organisation was passing through the worst crisis of its history and was unable to manage its operational requirements because of the financial crunch and outlived infrastructure, especially locomotives.

“The malaise affecting the Pakistan Railways is primarily shortage of funds and poor maintenance of locomotives. Only immediate provision of funds for procurement of much needed spare parts can enable the railways to put maximum number of held up locomotives back on the tracks. Otherwise the shortage of locomotives will continue to worsen and PR may come to a halt, leaving us with the curse of train shedding in addition to power and gas loadshedding,” said the former chief engineer.

44pc of rail engines out of order

 

[xenia]

Railways: emulating South Korean experience

DAWN’s editorial ‘PR decline’, (Nov 20) has partially blamed the National Logistics Cell (NLC) for the staggering losses piling up in the Pakistan Railway’s (PR).

It isn’t NLC alone; together with private carriers they draw away almost 70 to 80 per cent freight from rail to road carriage.

This decline in the remunerative freight traffic inevitably resulted in heavy financial loss to the PR. Another contributing factor is the uneconomical use of available traction power for goods traffic, for example, powerful railway engines (2500-3000 HP) being used for hauling light passenger trains even on branch lines.

On the other hand the increased haulage of freight by road over-strained the highway network. Further more, diversion of long haul freight traffic to the relatively uneconomical mode of transport (by road) involved extra costs and therefore a net loss to the national economy.

I recollect, the National Logistics Cell (NLC), comprising of a civil GT company initially, was raised in August 1978 to reduce the congestion at the Karachi port, which had resulted in a waiting time of 50 days or more for the ships to discharge cargo and was costing the Government $12.5 million per annum in demurrage. After successful completion of its mission the NLC should have been disbanded.

Nevertheless, with the passage of time, the civil transports were gradually phased out and new Mercedes-Benz trucks coupled with 20 tonne trailers were inducted in the NLC. These trucks were imported on the orders of Lt Gen Saeed Qadir. Later the NLC introduced the concept of containerisation in the country and became the largest multi-modal freight handler in the region.

The National Highway couldn’t take the persistent beating of the heavy axel load of NLC trucks and trailers. Therefore the pavement started showing structural failure, such as surface rutting, particularly between Mirpur Mathelo and Ubauro, Sukkur District.

To strengthen the weak section of the national highway an ad-hoc organisation, NLC Engineers, was created. Later it also became a permanent feature and a paral lel organisation to the Frontier Works Organisation (FWO).

The editorial also drew attention towards the issue of dozens of engines lying in various railway yards across the country in need of repair and the resultant curtailment of numerous passenger trains and the further loss of revenue for the already cash-starved entity.

During the time when Sheikh Rashid Ahmed was federal minister for railways, the PR was an efficient, viable and service-oriented organisation. There is no plausible reason why the PR cannot, once again, become a profit making business.

Instead of importing locomotives of various make from abroad, we should build our own at the Pakistan Locomotive Factory Risal pur, Khyber Pakhtoonkhawa (KP) which was set up in 1993 at the cost of Rs2,284 million, including Rs1,496 million foreign exchange for manufacturing new locomotives.

This most modern factory equipped with state-of-theart equipment, can also be employed in the rebuilding of diesel-electric (DE) locomotives lying out of service in various railway yards across the country. I guess that four to five locomotives can be easily re-commissioned for the price of one.

It is on record that the Pakistan Locomotive Factory has manufactured 97 locomotives in the range of 2,000-3,000 HP for Pakistan Railways up to July 2008. Rehabilitation of 26 over-age locomotives of 2,000-2,400 HP has also been carried out in the factory.

At a later date the NLC may be re-organised and given the role of developing agricultural farms and producing green power for the country.

We must emulate South Korea and inculcate can-do attitude in ourselves.

SYED AHMED Canada