PAKISTAN RAILWAY is confronted with significant technological obstacles.
Only 72% of the 461 diesel-electric locomotives are operational at this time.
ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Railways is experiencing severe difficulties on the technical front as just 72% of its 461 diesel-electric locomotives are in a functional condition, which is insufficient to perform all of the department’s activities.
An official of the Ministry of Railways stated to APP that the railways only had 332 locomotives that were in a functioning condition out of a total of 461, and that 129 diesel-electric locomotives, which constitute 28 percent of the fleet, were inoperable.
According to the official, around 41 of the 129 locomotives were currently undergoing typical overhauling and maintenance schedules. The official also stated that the locomotives will be rolled out one at a time after routine schedule maintenance had been completed.
He stated that 11 locomotives had been involved in an accident on a variety of dates and in different locations, and that fabrication work and the acquisition of parts for these locomotives were currently in progress.
According to the official, 69 diesel-electric locomotives of the DPU class were put on hold for repairs and require extensive modifications, while eight locomotives were temporarily deleted and are currently going through the condemnation procedure because of an overage.
In response to a question, he stated that the Pakistan Railways was planning to purchase as many as 25 diesel-electric locomotives for use at various shunting points across the country. These locomotives would assist in the replacement of antiquated locomotives that were going to be scrapped very soon.
He went on to say that the project to acquire and manufacture 25 shunting locomotives would be carried out in three years at an estimated cost of 14 billion rupees.
According to him, as of right now, there are just 51 locomotives being used for this function, despite the fact that there are 98 shunting points located at various railway stations across the nation.
In addition, the majority of the older locomotives would be scrapped due to the significant costs associated with their maintenance.
He explained that the purpose of the project was to acquire and produce 25 shunting diesel-electric locomotives with horsepower ranging from 2000 to 2200 in order to replace the surplus of locomotives that were not cost effective.
According to the official, the older locomotives had a high fuel consumption rate, and the majority of the time, high horsepower locomotives were not utilised to their full potential during shunting operations.
He stated that the installation of the new locomotives would increase the capacity of Pakistan Railways by removing bottlenecks that occurred during the shunting of heavy-load freight trains and the placement of freight loads at departure yards in Karachi, Lahore, and other locations. He said this would allow Pakistan Railways to better serve its customers.
