Pakistan Railways

[farhan_9909]

Plan to import locomotives dropped

ISLAMABAD: The much-trumpeted project to purchase 150 locomotives from foreign companies this fiscal year has been abandoned, as Federal Minister for Railways Khawaja Saad Rafique has decided to manufacture new engines locally and repair the old ones to save the department from getting more loans.


Sources said on Friday that to save the department from getting more loans, Saad Rafique had decided not to procure foreign-made locomotives or other goods. The department already has to clear Rs70 billion liabilities against loans to different firms and donor agencies.


On the other hand, the department's performance has deteriorated due to the worst financial crunch, making it unable to launch any big scheme in the last one decade to rehabilitate it.In view of this bad situation, the minister believes purchase of foreign-made locomotives will cost millions of dollars thus burdening the department with more loans.


To save the department's position, Saad Rafique has directed cancellation of all agreements with foreign firms, including China and the US, for procurement of locomotives and other rail goods. Instead, he has ordered the authorities concerned to prepare over 58 locomotives at the local level to save money. An amount of Rs500 million has been sanctioned out of which Rs250 million has been released and work has been started on the project. The 58 locomotives will be manufactured at the carriage factories of different railway stations.


Mohammad Ali, Personal Secretary to Khawaja Saad Rafiq, confirmed that the old plan to procure 150 new locomotives from American firms had been dropped and work had been undertaken on the manufacture of 58 locomotives at the local level.


After completion of the project, the locally-made locomotives would be coupled with passenger trains plying different routes. Mohammad Ali was unable to reply how many freight trains would be made operational which was the major source of generating revenue. He said the decision would be taken after the manufacture of locomotives.


Plan to import locomotives dropped - thenews.com.pk

 

[farhan_9909]

Repairing locomotives: Finance Ministry to release Rs 500m to PR

ISLAMABAD: Accepting the request from Ministry of Railways, the Ministry of Finance here on Tuesday agreed to release Rs 500 million for repair of locomotives and these would be utilised for freight trains.
Federal Minister for Railways Khawaja Saad Rafique met the Finance Minister Ishaq Dar at the latter's office here this afternoon and discussed with him issues relating to railways.
During his meeting the issue of availability of locomotives and their present condition was discussed at length. The finance minister accepted a request by the Ministry of Railways for release of Rs 250 million for repair of locomotives. This would enable the Ministry of Railways to repair 50 locomotives so that they can be put to use on fast-track basis.
The finance minister also approved the release of another Rs 250 million for repair of fraction motors of locomotive engines.
During the meeting it was decided that the locomotive would be utilised to start new freight trains so that the economic health of the railways can be improved.
The meeting reviewed the overall financial solution of the railways and the operational difficulties being faced by it in overcoming the challenges.
Dar said that turning around railways and make it passenger-friendly was one of the commitments of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) in its manifesto. The Ministry of Finance, he said would do all that it takes to achieve this objective. The meeting was also attended by Federal Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal, senior officials of the ministries of planning and development, finance and railways. staff report

Daily Times - Leading News Resource of Pakistan

 

[farhan_9909]

A very good news

Railways to lease out Risalpur locomotive factory

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Railways has decided to lease out its Risalpur factory to private sector to convert it into a modern, state-of-the-art locomotive manufacturing facility.

The main objective of the move is to manufacture 25 locomotives yearly for the Railways and to unitise any excess capacity for potential export opportunities, according to a project document made available to Dawn.

The private sector consortium would make an upfront payment of Rs1 billion to the Railways after signing of the concession agreement.

The private party would make investment through its own resources without any financial assistance from the locomotive factory or PR to make the plant a successful and self-sufficient unit. The private party would have no access to locomotive factory's assets for securing financing for the project.

The locomotive factory in Risalpur was commissioned in 1993 at a cost of Rs2.28bn with the Japanese assistance. Spreading over 100 acres and with production capacity of 25 locomotives in single shift basis, the factory has so far manufactured 97 locomotives and rehabilitated another 26.

The factory has been running into losses with only 97 locomotives manufactured in 21 years instead of estimated 235 locomotives since January 1993.

The Railways has offered the factory to a private sector consortium through the Infrastructure Project Development Facility (IPDF) of the Ministry of Finance.

The factory will partner with the private sector by contributing land and its existing facilities as a form of equity, while the private party will be responsible for upgrading the factory and its operations.

The project would have a possible capacity to export products while still retaining the functions of fulfilling the local railway transportation demand and achieving high delegation levels for the industry.

The concession to private consortium would be for 25 years subject to a manufacturing capacity of at least 25 locomotives a year.

Official statistics showed that the Railways currently has 300 locomotives which are out of service, waiting major repairs. The government is arranging funding of Rs6.1 billion through a consortium of commercial banks for the rehabilitation of 66 held-up locomotives through PRACS.

Rehabilitation of 27 locomotives is being arranged through PSDP at a cost of Rs5.108bn for which an agreement has been signed with a US locomotive manufacturing enterprise.

Special repair of 150 locomotives to improve their reliability and performance was also being carried out through PSDP at a cost of Rs5.005bn. Under this initiative, 20 locomotives would be repaired in 2012-13 and 65 locomotives each in the next two years.

The Executive Committee of National Economic Council (Ecnec) has already approved the procurement of 275 locomotives, and the delivery of first 50 locomotives will start from March 2014. PR has also submitted a proposal to Planning Commission for another 100 locomotives for approval by Ecnec.

The Railways has a total of 515 locomotives, out of which more than 300 are off-track for want of service. Since 2011, the number of locomotives available for use has reduced by an average of 10 locomotives a month. By June 2012, only eight locomotives were available for freight and 92 for passengers. As a result, PR revenue earnings have drastically fallen by 25 per cent.

The worst crisis of the Railways is evident from the fact that the passenger traffic which was 230 trains a day has been reduced to 92 trains daily, while the number of freight trains has dropped from 96 to merely one per day.

Railways to lease out locomotive factory - DAWN.COM

 

[ladder]

Federal Minister for Railways Khawaja Saad Rafique has decided to manufacture new engines locally and repair the old ones to save the department from getting more loans.

How does he plan to manufacture new engines locally? Does he have a plan or mere lip service?

Many do believe that the technical knowledge to overhaul and repair engines is lacking in Risalpur workshop. How does one address that?

What about the used engine purchase deal from South Korea? Is it on or cancelled?

 

[farhan_9909]

How does he plan to manufacture new engines locally? Does he have a plan or mere lip service?

Many do believe that the technical knowledge to overhaul and repair engines is lacking in Risalpur workshop. How does one address that?

What about the used engine purchase deal from South Korea? Is it on or cancelled?

if i am not wrong during musharaf govt pakistan indeed got a under license production of a locomotive from a firm in usa.

anyway apart from under license production.the risalpur locomotive factory when privitized should opt for a indigenous or a jv with any chinese firm for a newly developed locomotive.

it will help the industry in long run

 

[farhan_9909]

from 2005
@ladder

most probably manufactured under license

He was speaking at a ceremony held at the Pakistan Locomotive Factory in Risalpur on Wednesday to hand over a 3,000-horsepower locomotive engine to the railways.

Today, we are able to hand over 15th engine of 3,000-horsepower to the railways,� he said, adding that the engines made in the Risalpur factory were better than those of many other countries. �Pakistani engineers are doing a tremendous job and have manufactured compatible engines,� he added.

risalpur locomotive factory was created with the vision of local manufacturing

even though the last govt has screwed everything.

as usuall i have always said this govt is bad at everything mostly foriegn policy but is best at economy and infra

15th locomotive rolls out of Risalpur plant - DAWN.COM

 

[ladder]

Now that you have the ability to produce engines, where did you go wrong?

The answer would probably be money, isn't it?
The first batch of Chinese locomotive was through a loan from Chinese bank ( EXIM bank probably)
And the second was also following the route.
But, now it stands cancelled.

The private sector consortium would make an upfront payment of Rs1 billion to the Railways after signing of the concession agreement.

The government is arranging funding of Rs6.1 billion through a consortium of commercial banks for the rehabilitation of 66 held-up locomotives through PRACS.

These two statements are important as it hints about why this is happening.

I don't want to sound pessimistic but, the last govt. inked many deals and got kick backs.
This govt. cancelled them and going for new deals in hopes for kickbacks from deals.
Pursuing old deals is uneconomical for them personally.


When Risalpur workshop is cutting and selling trees growing in their campus as timber,says a lot about their economic situation.

And I would also not like to discuss about the working culture of the employees of Risalpur workshop.

So, in all if you get a single bidder who is interested to invest 1bn PKR in Risalpur, consider yourself lucky.

 

[farhan_9909]

Now that you have the ability to produce engines, where did you go wrong?

The answer would probably be money, isn't it?
The first batch of Chinese locomotive was through a loan from Chinese bank ( EXIM bank probably)
And the second was also following the route.
But, now it stands cancelled.





These two statements are important as it hints about why this is happening.

I don't want to sound pessimistic but, the last govt. inked many deals and got kick backs.
This govt. cancelled them and going for new deals in hopes for kickbacks from deals.
Pursuing old deals is uneconomical for them personally.


When Risalpur workshop is cutting and selling trees growing in their campus as timber,says a lot about their economic situation.

And I would also not like to discuss about the working culture of the employees of Risalpur workshop.

So, in all if you get a single bidder who is interested to invest 1bn PKR in Risalpur, consider yourself lucky.

there is no doubt we are short of funds..but under those available funds and the official PR budget.if the corruption is made less.we can see some positive results

because of corruption PR was effed.
within 2 years you will see a slightly better PR

 

[Blackwater]

pakis have no aukat to make or assemble locomotives

 

[SilentKiller]

from 2005
@ladder

15th locomotive rolls out of Risalpur plant - DAWN.COM

News is very old, 2006 news...
i don't think u are providing recent or correct information.
By posting such old thing your railways is not going to improve. right now best solution for pakistan railway is to Privatize itself and hope it gets good buyers.

 

[farhan_9909]

Pakistan Railways to rehabilitate 100 engines

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Railways (PR) has started work for the rehabilitation of around 100 engines, said an official of PR.

Talking to APP he said the rehabilitation of the locomotives would help adding 30 more locomotives in the fleet of PR within a next few months.

He said that around 200 new locomotive would be part of PR system during next two years.

The addition of more engines in PR fleet would help in restoring the suspended train service by the pervious government.

To a question, he said, the government had also released funds for the purchase of spare parts of the engines.

He said freight trains would also be restored with the addition of new engine. He said freight trains are the main source of income for PR.

He expressed the hope that with the restoration of freight trains - PR would be able to earn around Rs. 15 billion revenue annually.

To a question he said with the addition of 100 overhauled engines, PR would be able to earn around Rs. 22 billion

The PR would also get around Rs. 10 billion through auction of stalls and 'Quli' services at various railways stations.

Central Diesel Locomotive Workshop (CDLW) has completely overhauled 80 locomotives and partially repaired 37 engines from October 2011 to December 2012, he recalled.

He said the repaired locomotives have been handed over to different railway divisions, including Rawalpindi, Peshawar, Lahore, Multan, Sukkur, Quetta and Karachi.

He said that the workshop overhauled 10 locomotives every month, adding that the organization was functioning to its full capacity round the clock.

Pakistan Railways to rehabilitate 100 engines

 

[Ray]

Good to know it still is there.