“The establishment of a marshalling yard in Wazir Mansion will prove immeasurably beneficial. The facility, if constructed, will be advantageous in terms of significantly enhancing port efficiency, drastically declining turnaround time for containers, massively curtailing the port area congestion and substantially escalating the freight service of Pakistan Railways.”

This was revealed during a presentation given to the newly appointed federal minister of Pailways, Muhammad Azam Khan Swati, who visited the Karachi Port Trust (KPT), along with the Chief Executive Officer Pakistan Railways, Nisar Ahmad Memon and other senior officers of the department, on January 7.

Marshalling Yard is a place where railway wagons are shunted and shaped into form of trains besides placing engines and wagons there which are not in use. Currently Pakistan Railways operates a single marshalling yard in Karachi division that is located in Pipri.

During his visit to KPT, the Railways Minister was holistically briefed about 33 kilometers long rail network at KPT possessing a container handling capacity of 125 million tons.

“Pakistan Railways and KPT can jointly make a difference and contribute enormously to economic development of the country, the minister remarked on the occasion

He also visited the Wazir Mansion station followed by South Asia Pacific Terminal (SAPT), the prime container loading facility in Karachi.

He was given a detailed presentation regarding the operational parameters of SAPT with special focus on connectivity of SAPT with Pakistan Railways through rail network. The minister was also presented with a souvenir in SAPT.