Central Development Working Party (CDWP) meeting presided by Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal on Monday recommended the purchase of 250 passenger coaches and 830 high-capacity bogie freight wagons which will cost Rs36.9b pending final approval from the Executive Committee of National Economic Council (ECNEC).

Under China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), Pakistan has inked various agreements with China for overhauling and upgrading its aged railway infrastructure at a cost of Rs870b.

According to Pakistan Railways (PR) officials, the upgradation work on Lahore-Multan, Nawab Shah-Rohri and Peshawar-Rawalpindi segment will begin very shortly.

These passenger coaches equipped with latest state of the art bogies are expected to run at a speed of 160 Km/hr.