On Tuesday, the Lahore Orange Line Train reached the end of its second year of service. Since the project’s commercial inauguration on October 25, 2020, up to 50 million passengers have taken the train.
A ceremony was held here on Tuesday by the business in charge of project operation and maintenance, and it was attended by the ina’s general counsel in Lahore, Chinese engineers, Pakistani employees, senior PMA officials, and others.
According to an Orange Line Metro Train spokesman, the train has made 200,000 journeys with a 99.99 percent on-time completion rate, covering a total distance of 25 million kilometers. The corporation attained a localization rate of 97% and 50 million riders.
A top PMA official told Dawn that between October 25, 2020, and October 25, 2021, up to 20 million travelers used the facility. However, from October 25, 2021, to October 25, 2022, there were 30 million passengers, an increase that indicates more people are using the metro train system as a result of rising gas prices. At the ceremony, movies about the project were presented, and outstanding employees received recognition.
The high-tech trains travel through 26 stations from Ali Town to Dera Gujran every five minutes from 6 am to 10 pm daily.
The project was built by China Railway Group Co Ltd, China North Industries, and Norinco International. Guangzhou Metro Group and Daewoo Pakistan Express Bus Service Ltd. manage the project’s operations and maintenance. Over 2,000 jobs in the area have been generated by the project.
The initiative has won two prestigious prizes at the Brands of the Year Awards of 2021: the “CEO of the Year 2021” and the “Emerging Brand of the Year” in the field of urban rail transit.
Following receiving formal approval from the chief minister, the Punjab government named and informed new members of the Punjab Mass transit Authority (PMA).
The new members of the authority have been appointed, according to a notification from the transport department, in accordance with sections 3(6)(b)(d) & (e) of the PMA Act 2015 read with item 14 (b), sub-item (a), of the third column of the fourth schedule of Punjab Rules of Business, 2011.
The members who received notification included retired Col. Ghazanfar Abbas (MPA, PP-128), who will also serve as vice chairman of the authority, Ghulam Ali Asghar Khan Lehry (MPA, PP-80), Chaudhry Iftikhar Hussain Gondal (MPA, PP-81), Shamim Aftab (MPA, W-303), Khadija Umer (W-362), Sohaib Sheikh (Director of Consumer (Managing Director, New Staff Line Coaches).