Pakistan Railways, Chinese company signed agreement for IT-based project

China Economic Net

Islamabad: Pakistan Railways (PR) this week signed a signed an agreement with a Chinese company for the implementation of an Artificial Intelligence (AI) based facilitation approach.

Norinco (China North Industries Group Corporation) is all set to work on a project focused on enhancing passenger facilitation for the national railways, PR said in a statement.

The partnership agreement was signed by Azam Ghafoor, the Director of Information Technology, Pakistan Railways, and Zhidan Wu from China’s Norinco/Easyway.

This is potentially a massively productive step for Pakistan Railways.

The Chinese company will execute the project on build, operate, and transfer (BOT) mode in 10 years.

Speaking on the occasion, Chairman of Ministry of Railways Habibur Rehman Gilani stressed that the Chinese company will implement the project with no expenditure on the part of the Railways.

This is the largest Information Technology-based project under the public-private partnership mode in Pakistan.

The agreement on the project is part of Railway Automated Booking and Travel Assistance (RABTA) initiative introduced by Ministry of Railways to improve the efficiency of Railways with the help of information technology.

Instead of having to locate, book, and pay for each mode of transportation separately, the RABTA platform will let passengers plan and book door-to-door journeys using a single interface. Passengers can check train status, choose seats, purchase tickets, order car rental, meals and refreshments, as well as book a hotel.