Chinese company CRSC and Czech Inkon Group to introduce Rs 21 billion electric tram service in Punjab

Lahore: Chinese company China Railway Signal and Communication Co. Ltd. (CRSC International) and the Inkon Group of the Czech Republic will work together introduce an electric tram service in Punjab provincial capital Lahore costing around Pakistani Rs 21 billion.

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between the Punjab government, Chinese firm CRSC International and the Inkon Group of the Czech Republic recently regarding the Punjab provincial government’s project aimed to be partially completed by mid-2023.

According to the MoU, both companies will work together with the Lahore Transport Company in the transport sector. Under the first phase, 50 trams will run on a 35 kilometers-long track at Canal Road. The trams would have the capacity to carry some 35,000 passengers.

It will be a public-private partnership and a joint venture of European and Chinese companies with the Punjab transport department.

With the launch of the tram service in Lahore, the issues of pollution and traffic burden at Canal Road will be reduced. As the provincial capital stands on top in the pollution index, the new project would provide the public with quality environment-friendly transport facilities.

The tram speed will be between 25 to 30-km per hour. According to the Punjab government, the initial cost of one station has been estimated to be Rs 1 billion. In total, the project will cost more than Rs 21billion. An eight-feet-wide track will be constructed on the main road at either side of the Lahore Canal. Under the plan, 21 stations will be constructed on Canal Road.

Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar has directed the Lahore Development Authority (LDA) officials to give a final shape to the project’s feasibility report so the government could proceed with the country’s first electric tram service.

Initially, the tram will travel from Thokar Niaz Baig to Jallo Morr at Lahore’s famous Canal Road. It will touch almost all major roads like Mall Road, Jail Road, Multan Road and Ferozepur Road.

The project is said to be an eco-friendly mass transit system with zero carbon emission. Moreover, the project would be much cheaper as compared to other mass projects such as the Metrobus and the Orange Line.

Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar has already chaired a couple of meetings to review the proposal. Recently, the CM was briefed on the project by the Director General Lahore Development Authority (LDA) Ahmed Aziz Tarar and LDA chief engineer Israr Saeed.

In his latest meeting, CM Buzdar said the provincial government had launched projects worth Rs 86 billion in its third year since election in 2018.

As compared to the Metrobus and the Orange Line train projects, the tram projects would be cheaper. It would be the first megaproject in the transport sector that will cost only Rs 21 billion. The Orange Line was the most expensive mass transit project that was completed with a cost of Rs 300 billion.