Company submits report on BRT buses fault­

PESHAWAR: The bus manufacturing company’s inspection team has submitted the report to the government and the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) service is expected to resume on October 25.

Special Assistant to the Chief Minister on Information and Higher Education Kamran Bangash on Wednesday confirmed that the report had been submitted to the government.

He said the bus manufacturing company had assured the government that the service could be resumed on October 25.

An official, requesting anonymity, said the service was suspended on the recommendation of the manufacturers to help them inspect all buses thoroughly to determine and fix the fault after fire incidents.

He said the investigation team had found that the motor capacitors/ controllers in the buses were not working properly which would be replaced with new ones being brought from China.

The official said the report found that the installed capacitor was passing more electricity than needed which had led to fire eruption incidents.

He said that preparation for new capacitors/ controllers, import, fitting and testing would take around a month that was why the company had set a month deadline for resuming the service.

The official said some of the parts had two years’ warranty while the batteries and electric motors had 12 years or 1.2 million kilometres warranty.

He said the government was monitoring the BRT buses on daily buses and that the bus manufacturing company was responsible for its successful operation.

The official said the hybrid buses were selected on the recommendation of the Asian Development Bank for being cost-effective and environment-friendly.

He said the hybrid buses were being used for the first time in Pakistan and that the company had hired the services of Chinese engineers to train local engineers and oversee the operation for two years.

Earlier, Special Assistant Kamran Bangash had tweeted that “Technical malfunctions in Peshawar BRT have been identified and the solution is already underway. Defective components are being flown in for immediate replacement. The buses will start operating in a month or so with technical experts making the swap and testing the vehicles in detail.”

He had said, “A team of 20 experts is engaged for a rapid resolution of the issue with 11 already working on different sites. The repair has no financial implications on the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government as the concerned company is bound by contract to provide the services.”

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government last week suspended the BRT service to review the technical performance of all the buses after the fire incidents.

Five buses have been hit by fire or ‘spark’ incidents so far. The company claims that only two buses had caught fire while the other three were just sparks.