Local locomotives

An agreement was signed between Pakistan Railways and General Electric (GE) on June 20 under which Pakistan will import 55 ready-made GE diesel locomotives from the US. These locomotives will cost the nation a whopping Rs500 million apiece. Out of these 55 locomotives, 40 will be used to haul coal to the Sahiwal and Jamshoro power stations, and 15 on general freight services. It may be mentioned that Pakistan has its own locomotive manufacturing factory at Risalpur. The factory can manufacture 25 locomotives per annum on a single-shift basis. That means that in double shift, it would be able to produce 50 locomotives a year.

The question is: when a locomotive factory exists in Pakistan, why are we so keen to import the same from abroad? We should utilise the full potential of this factory and manufacture all the 55 engines over here. In case the machinery has gone out-of-date, it can be easily upgraded with the help of the original equipment manufacturer. With updated machinery in place, Pakistan would not only be able to meet its own demand, but receive export orders from other countries too. The government should introduce an amendment in the contract in consultation with GE that should say that, instead of importing the locomotives, GE should manufacture them in Pakistan through transfer of technology under a collaboration programme. This way we will get the latest technology for manufacturing state of the art locomotives in the country. It will also result in promoting self-reliance.

Air-Cdre (r) Azfar A Khan

Rawalpindi