Orange Line Metro Train makes its first run

LAHORE: The Orange Line Metro Train (OLMT) project on Monday was run on a trial basis near its depot.

Advisor to the chief minister Khawaja Ahmad Hassan also visited the project and announced that another four train sets had reached Lahore.

According to government officials, a 12km long portion of the track – from Dera Gujran to Lakshmi Chowk – would be completed within the ongoing week, and the project once operational would be comparable to the finest across the world including Moscow’s Kaluzhsko-Rizhskaya.

The OLMT is expected to facilitate up to 250,000 commuters every day.

It may be noted that the construction work on the project expedited after Punjab chief minister in January directed the concerned authorities to “burn the midnight oil” for its earliest completion.

The directives by the chief minister had come following the Supreme Court’s ruling in favour of the provincial government eight months later and conditional permission to the government to carry on the construction work of the OLMT project through 11 historical sites of the city.

The court had also directed the provincial government to commission a Rs100 million fund for the protection and safekeeping of the sites that include Shalimar Gardens, Gulabi Bagh Gateway, Chauburji, Zebunnisa’s Tomb, Lakshmi Building and the General Post Office.