Pakistan Railways launches first-ever reefer freight train

KARACHI: As a major breakthrough in the national logistics and cargo infrastructure, Pakistan Railways successfully launches the country’s first-ever reefer freight train, aiming at providing more economical and environment-friendly freight solutions, a statement said. The Marine Group of Companies in collaboration with the Pakistan Railways achieved the milestone by operating Pakistan’s first-ever containerised refrigerated train in December 2021, which departed from the dry port of Marine International Container Terminal (MICT) Prem Nagar, Lahore and arrived at Wazir Mansion Karachi.

This intermodal cold chain solution enabled by the Pakistan Railways Freight Transportation Company (PRFTC), who facilitates the rail infrastructure operated by the Pakistan Intermodal Limited (PIL) and CMA CGM Pakistan provides commercial support for this new cold chain corridor.

For the last five years, the Pakistan Intermodal Limited is playing a pivotal role in operating containerised freight trains in Pakistan and realising the potential of reefer containers, operated Pakistan’s first-ever reefer block train carrying 24 units, 40-feet reefers of CMA CGM Pakistan from MICT dry port at Prem Nagar, Lahore to Wazir Mansion Karachi and transported the reefer boxed through PakGo trucking short haul services to Karachi Port completing the journey successfully.

The new operational phase begins with one train a week with the plans for this service to operate 12 trains in a month.

The freight trains can minimise the delivery time and reduce emissions to the atmosphere of greenhouse gases. On an average, railroads are three to four times more fuel efficient than trucks. That means moving freight by rail instead of truck lowers greenhouse gas emissions by up to 75 per cent, on an average.

As more and more road-based reefer cargo finds their way to more economically and environmentally viable options. The Pakistan Intermodal Limited (PIL) reefer block train system can generate billions of rupees annually in revenue for the Pakistan Railways if the containerised freight trains are operated on schedule.

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