The Pakistan Railways Monday received first consignment of five locomotives out of 58 ordered from China.
The five locomotives, each of 3,000 horse power, were unloaded at Karachi Port on Monday. These would be inducted into the system after initial tests and used for operation of freight trains, Divisional Railway officials told APP.
At present Pakistan Railway is operating, on an average, three to four freight trains on daily basis and their frequency is likely to increase with the induction of the new locomotives.
The Karachi Railway Division operated 100 freight trains during the month of March, after a halt of freight operation for three years when it came to stand still due to non-availability of locomotives, resulting in a big revenue loss to the railway.
Each freight train is today generating a revenue of 2.5 to 3 million rupees and according to sources the Karachi Railway Division earned a revenue of Rs 300 million during March 2014.
“We have the demand and the capacity to carry freight with availability of wagons and arrival of new locomotives into the system will certainly boost freight operation resulting in further increase in the revenue”, railways sources said.
