Railways rehabilitates around 230 bridges for smooth trains operation

Railways rehabilitates around 230 bridges for smooth trains operation

ISLAMABAD, Dec 20 (APP):Pakistan Railways has rehabilitated and reconstructed around 230 bridges across the country to ensure smooth trains operation besides reducing the travel duration.

“Around 86 percent of railways bridges are more than 100 years old but all bridges are safe for train operation due to effective maintenance owing to regular maintenance, rehabilitation and strengthening of these bridges,” an official in the Ministry of Railways told APP.
He said there are 13,959 major and minor bridges over the system and the design life of which varies for different years.
The Standard Operating Procedure for inspection of bridges in accordance with the different schedules like monthly, quarterly, biannually and annually.
The official said average 77.10 percent of track are over-aged and minor repair are carried out departmentally in routine to ensure safety of the passengers.
However, he said 730 kilometer track has been rehabilitated or partially rehabilitated through complete track renewal, sleeper renewal and rail renewal under different PSDP projects.
To a question, the official said Pakistan Railways has finalized a plan to upgrade its track from Karachi-Peshawar via Lahore in the next five years under China Pakistan Economic Corridor project.
He said Pakistan Railways track from Lahore – Peshawar via Rawalpindi will be dualized in the next five years.

APP Services