LAHORE: The management of the Lahore Orange Line Metro Train says the average trip efficiency, journey time and arrival/departure punctuality remained almost 100 percent since its launch on Oct 26, 2020.

It further says the 100 million passengers count till June 30, 2023, speaks of the successof Pakistan’s first and state of the art transport facility.“It is environment-friendly, using up to 60MW electricity being provided by the Lahore Electric Supply Company (Lesco) though the allocated load is over 104MW for the operation of the entire system. The electricity expense is borne by the government in a bid to provide a subsidised modern transport facility to the public at large as practiced in other countries in the world,” Mr Umar Chishti, a senior official looking after operations and maintenance, told media at a briefing organised recently by the Lahore Chinese Consulate to commemorate 10-years completion of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) under which various projects were either completed or were underway, including the mega orange line in Lahore.

“The train system is modern, unique and the first of its kind which was taken in hand in 2015. It is a 100 per cent environment-friendly being operated on 750 volts (direct current) third-rail on 27km long stretch, with 25km elevated from Dera Gujjaran to Ali Town via GT Road, Shalamar, Lakshami Chowk, GPO, Lake Road, Chuburji, Samanabad, Gulshan Ravi Morr, Yatim Khana and Thokar Niaz Baig,” he said.

According to a report he shared with the media, the project constructed under CPEC attained ridership count of 10 million passengers till June last.Further discussing the salient features of the project, the report says the project was executed with $1.602 billion soft loan from the China Exim Bank.

Operation punctuality 100pc

The total length of the route is 27.12km, including 1.72km underground portion having two stations (GPO and Anarkali) constructed under cut and cover method. The system operates 27 sets of trains, each having five passenger coaches /cars. Its ridership in peak hours touches a figure of 212,673 passengers whereas the average daily ridership is 178,714.

The project’s O&M activities are being carried out jointly by two Chinese companies – Norinco International and Guangzhou and South Korean-Pakistani firm Daewoo Pakistan Express Private Limited. The O&M contract period is for eight years and will continue till 2028.

Report mentions that the conceptual design of the project was completed in December 2015, followed by its detailed completion with technical specifications and construction start in September 2016. In 2019, the project was completed.

The system’s operation-related activities include driving of trains and engineering vehicles, maintenance of vehicles, inspection of repairing of equipment, regional management of depots, repair / maintenance of mechanical and electrical systems such as signalling, track, heating and ventilation and other equipment, operation of driving organisation, equipment monitoring, station management, emergency handling etc.

The nature of passengers travelling through orange line include people going to work, shopping, offices, recreational facilities, students travelling to schools and those desiring to get intercity transport for travelling to other cities from various parts of Lahore on the train route.It says that the entire body of the trains is of stainless steel whereas the track gauge is 1435mm (standard gauge) having 3rd rail power supply of 750 DC volts. The maximum speed of the train is 80km per hour.

The report says the control centre manages day-to-day activities of trains operation, coordinates repair & maintenance work of related equipment, stations and trackside devices.The report mentions that the Orange Line has been featured in international rail journal in August 2022. There is no accident/train operation suspension and no security-related issue since October 2020 to date. It is also the first CPEC project to achieve IPO/Copy right of all technical doucs. It also secured top brand and CEO of the year award 2021 and 2022.

The project, according to the report, decreased traffic congestion, air pollution, import bill on fuel and vehicles procurement and spare parts, improved public transport system and image, introduced the concept of transport for all, improved quality of living environment, stimulated economic activity along the train routes.

“We also aim to manufacture spare parts locally up to 50 per cent in next few months, as we have achieved a target of 35 percent in this regard so far,” said Mr Chishti. He said the project would have 27 more sets of trains when the ridership would touch a figure of 500,000 passengers daily.

Published in Dawn, Aug 6th, 2023

Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that the Orange Line had touched the 10m passenger count. The error is regretted.