The coaches, according to sources, are completely built-up units manufactured in China. Pakistan’s carriage factory in Islamabad will soon begin producing 184 similar coaches (passenger, luggage, and brake vans).
Initially, Chinese engineers will work with Pakistan as part of the technology-transfer component of the 230-coach purchase contract.
PR will also receive 200 modern freight wagons from China shortly. Soon after, it will produce 620 similar wagons at its Mughalpura workshop and Risalpur carriage factory.
Last year, Pakistan Railways signed an agreement to purchase these trains with China Railway Construction Corporation Tangshan Locomotive and Rolling Stock Company. Shahid Aziz, PR’s additional general manager (mechanical), told the media about this development:
We have received 46 new coaches with economy, A.C. standard, and A.C. parlor passenger classes, as well as luggage and brake trucks. Saturday night, the ship bringing them from China arrived at the port of Karachi. Currently, the coaches are being unloaded at the port.
Moreover, he estimated that unloading the coaches would take three days. Aziz also stated that before the coaches arrive in Lahore, PR officials will conduct test runs on the Main Line-1 (ML-1) from Karachi to Peshawar via Sukkar, Rohri, Khanewal, Bahawalpur, Lahore, and Rawalpindi via Sukkar, Rohri, Khanewal, Bahawalpur, Lahore, and Rawalpindi.
He stated that commercial use of these coaches on various fast passenger trains would begin once the test run is completed.
The department will transport these coaches to the Karachi Cantt Railway Station via the port-connected railway line, according to PR’s Chief Mechanical Engineer (CME), Abdul Haseeb. These coaches will then embark on a test journey from Karachi to Peshawar. He continued:
Once we complete the test run, which includes many electrical and mechanical inspections, the coaches will be sent to Lahore. We will begin using them on December 15, when the Greenline express train is expected to resume service.