Islamabad: After launch of the 180km Hazara Motorway last month, Lahore’s Orange Line Train is set to begin soon.

Although the train is only set to be functional from March 2020, a trial run will take place on Tuesday.

Opposition Leader in the National Assembly and former Chief Minister of Punjab Shahbaz Sharif who is currently in London for his elder brother Nawaz Sharif’s treatment has hailed and congratulated the people of Lahore on the launch of the Orange Line Train.

He said it is a project of international standards that will ease Lahore’s increasing traffic burden and will provide the public with hassle-free transport facility within the city.

Although the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) provincial government and its chief minister will stay away from the trial run ceremony, Sharif’s party Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has announced it will hold public rallies across the train route. The PML-N is seeing the train trial run a big success of the previous government.

Started in 2015, the project was to be completed before the July 2018 elections but was delayed because of a stay order issued by the Supreme Court of Pakistan and many other controversies surrounding it. However, after many ifs and buts, now the train is almost ready to ply on the track.

According to the provincial government, all the technical and mechanical work on the project has been completed.

“During the technical test, five bogies will be attached to the engine which will cover a distance of 27 kilometres in 35 minutes,” said Punjab Transport Secretary Asad Rehman Gilani said.

All you need to know about Orange Line Train

The train track is 27.12 kilometres which winds down the narrowest lanes of the city on its elevated 25.4 kilometre track, while 1.72 kilometres are underground to protect historical places.

With 26 stations along the route, 27 trains will chug from Ali Town to Dera Gujran.

The distance will be covered in 45 minutes, while up to 250,000 passengers will travel on it every day and the government is considering its fare to be between Rs40 (Dh0.95) to Rs50 (Dh1.19).

Daily 250,000 passengers are expected to travel by the Metro Train and the number is likely to grow to 500,000 in the next few years.