Orange Line Metro Train Subsidy Cost and Fares Revealed by the Government
According to reports, the OLMT service comprises 3,668 employees, including a combination of Chinese and Pakistani staff.
The government has decided to dedicate an annual subsidy of Rs. 5.62 billion for the Orange Line Metro Train (OLMT) project. According to officials, each train has a maximum capacity of 1,000 passengers at a time. These trains will be able to cater to 250,000 people daily.
Further details state that the train route is 27 km long and begins from Ali Town and goes up to Dera Gujran. Twenty-two trains will complete their courses on the tracks daily, with one-way travel taking around 45 minutes. These trains will initially run for 13 hours from 7:30 AM to 8:30 PM.
There shall be 19 stations, to begin with, including Ali Town, Thokar Niaz Baig, Canal View, Hanjarwal, Wahdat Road, Awan Town, Shah Noor Studio, Band Road, Samanabad, Lake Road Chauburji, GPO, Lakshmi Chowk, Railway Station, UET, Baghbanpura, Shalimar Garden, Pakistan Mint, Salamatpura, and finally, Dera Gujran.
It should be noted that during the inception, the service planned to have 26 stations, 24 of which were to be located on the ground while two were to be located underground. As per reports, the annual electricity cost of the project is likely to be more than Rs. 1.9 billion a year.
The Punjab Chief Minister, Usman Buzdar announced:
The service shall become available to the public on October 26th, 2020. Its fare will be Rs. 40, which will remain unchanged for six months. Meanwhile, the government shall review the situation and revise the rates or introduce more slabs in the future.
According to reports, the OLMT service comprises 3,668 employees, including a combination of Chinese and Pakistani staff. It is pertinent to mention that 104 train drivers have arrived from China to train the Pakistani drivers. After familiarizing Pakistani drivers with the systems, the Chinese drivers will return to their country.
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Annual subsidy amount is too much this will be additional burdan on the Punjab Govt.
This is white elephant project. Every time, I come across these kinda projects, I think of the book “Confessions of an Economic Hitman”. The corrupt elite of this country has done irreversible damage to this country not in form of financial loss only but also moral values have devastated to an extent that people tend to side with the corrupt politicians, bureaucrat and the likes to satisfy their minor material gains over the national interest.