Fact Check: The claim that railway bogies imported from China are inoperable is completely false

 

 The claim that railway bogies imported from China are inoperable is completely wrong.

 Three officials of Pakistan Railways confirmed that these bogies were operational and were run on Pakistani train tracks for 2500 km.

Several social media users claimed that the 46 railway bogies Pakistan imported from China at a cost of $149 million were defective.

This claim is completely false.

Claim

On January 3, a verified Twitter account posted that train bogies imported from China were not suitable for Pakistani tracks.

A Twitter user wrote in his tweet that “88 Pakistani officers inspected/approved these bogies in China, they should be sacked after such a huge loss. "

On January 10, the tweet received 280,000 views and 3,610 likes on Twitter.

On January 4, another Twitter user wrote that "Railway Minister bought $150 million worth of bogies from China which cannot run on Pakistani train tracks." "

Reality

Three officials of Pakistan Railways have confirmed that all these bogies are operational and have been seen running for 2500 km on the railway tracks of Pakistan.

However, the railway authorities further said that in order to ensure the safety of the passengers, China has made some more changes in these coaches at its own expense.

Shahid Aziz, Additional General Manager, Mechanic Shahid Aziz, State-owned Pakistan Railways, told Geofactcheck that all the bogies are in perfect condition.

Shahid Aziz said, "These bogies have run twenty five hundred kilometers, from Karachi to Peshawar, from Peshawar to Lahore, from Lahore to Faisalabad, Khanewal." There is no such issue. "

"The guard who is there is in the rearmost carriage, and his duty is to check if there is any abnormality in the train, whether there is a robbery or If there is a fire in a coach, then he [the guard] should have the power to stop the train or give an indication to the driver."

Shahid Aziz further told Geofactcheck that "When the Chinese understood this, then they suggested (advised) that it has a pipe, which is about seven, eight feet, the diameter of this pipe is less. If we install more diameter, then this problem will be solved. So he then installed this pipe in each coach at his own expense, in his presence. "

Another official of Pakistan Railways, Director General Public Relations Babar Ali Raza also confirmed to Geofact Check that the news circulating on social media is baseless.

Only the bogie pipes have been modified to give the option of a guard brake.

Babar Ali Raza said that "It is a simple matter that when these bogies have arrived, after that they have been tested, they have come from Karachi to Lahore as a trial. So they came from Karachi to Lahore by walking, not by flying. "

Babar Ali Raza further said that this project with China was for 230 railway bogies out of which 46 bogies were to be imported from China. The remaining 184 will be made in Pakistan at the carriage factory in Islamabad after transfer of technology from China to save foreign exchange.

In a press conference on January 7, Pakistan Railways Minister Khawaja Saad Rafiq also confirmed that all these reports on social media are false and that these bogies were also tested in China before being sent to Pakistan and then the Pakistani train. They were tested again by running 2500 km on the tracks.

He also showed the pipes that had been replaced in his press conference. He further said that this change of pipes has been done by China at its own expense.