China has despatched 46 out of 230 new high-speed passenger coaches to Pakistan Railways by sea which will take approximately three weeks to reach Karachi port.
After being handed over to the railway authorities, these coaches will reach Lahore by the Karachi-Lahore main line-1 by end of this month, Dawn has learnt.
“Yes, 46 new coaches have been despatched by China on Friday. Hopefully, we will have them in Karachi within the next three weeks,” PR’s Additional General Manager (Mechanical) Shahid Aziz said.
A major Chinese corporation has produced 230 cutting-edge passenger coaches under a $140 million contract, of which 46 will be delivered as fully built units (CBUs) and the remaining 184 will be produced in Pakistan by the PR engineers and technical employees under the guidance of the Chinese specialists.
An additional deal of a similar type involves a Chinese company producing 800 freight waggons and 20 brake waggons. While some waggons are currently being constructed in China, the majority will be produced in Pakistan via the technology transfer process.
