Pakistan tests 1st metro train in Lahore under CPEC

Pakistan today made a test run of its first metro train service in Lahore, a project under the USD 50 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

Punjab Province Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif inaugurated the first test-run of the Orange Line Metro Train (OLMT) from Dera Gujran to Lakshmi Chowk on a 12-km portion of the total 27.1-km route.

The OLMT is Pakistan's first mass rapid transit train project launched by the Punjab government.

The Punjab chief minister said the OLMT is a "gift" for citizens, and vowed to introduce such facilities in other parts of the country, including Karachi and Peshawar, the Dawn reported.

"The OLMT is not just a development project. Rather, it is the manifestation of democratic resolve to serve the common man," Shahbaz said, according to the Punjab government's Twitter account.

Initially, the project will facilitate 0.25 million people daily, whereas by 2025, it is expected to facilitate 0.5 million people every day.

A total of 27 sets of trains, each comprising five cars, will be used for the service in the project, a part of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

All the bogies of the train have been imported from China.

Under the project, the trains will travel across the track in 45 minutes, a journey which previously took 2.5 hours.

Addressing a gathering after the inauguration, the chief minister said work on the project would complete in three months.