Railways to receive high-speed passenger coaches by December

The Pakistan Railways (PR) will receive first batch of 230 high-speed new passenger coaches from China in December. The coaches will have the capacity to run at the train’s speed of 160 kilometres per hour.

According to reports, the Chinese company has signed a contract with Pakistan to supply state-of-the-art, luxurious and comfortable coaches to revitalize long-distance passenger services.

The PR spokesperson said that passenger coaches will include 80 compartments each for economy and air-conditioned class, 30 parlour cars, and 20 vans each for luggage and brake.

Two hundred freight vans will be imported, while 620 of such bogies will be prepared at the factory, he added.

It emerged that officials from the PR have already visited China to inspect bogies worth US$149 million.

Under $140 million contract (Rs31 billion, approximately), the Chinese company is to manufacture 230 state-of-the-art passenger coaches, of which 46 will be provided as completely built units and the remaining 184 will be manufactured in Pakistan by the PR engineers and technical staff under the supervision of the Chinese experts.

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