ISLAMABAD — Pakistan Railways has begun transporting diesel to Pakistan State Oil depots by freight train as authorities seek to maintain fuel supplies when road transportation is disrupted.
A freight train carrying 750,000 litres of diesel from Rawalpindi reached Peshawar, according to state broadcaster Radio Pakistan. A second train carrying one million litres from Mahmood Kot was scheduled to reach Peshawar on Saturday night.
The move establishes rail as a contingency route for high-speed diesel movement at a time when interruptions to road freight can complicate deliveries to depots. The Petroleum Division had asked Pakistan Railways to support diesel transportation to help maintain supplies if road movement was affected.
Railways Minister Muhammad Hanif Abbasi directed the relevant authorities to continue transporting diesel on a daily basis, according to the official report. The stated aim is to support uninterrupted supply while maintaining smooth railway operations and passenger services.
The arrangement is notable less as a change in Pakistan’s underlying fuel supply than as a logistics response. Moving large consignments by rail provides an alternative to road tankers on routes where road access is constrained or disrupted.
The first confirmed movement — 750,000 litres from Rawalpindi to Peshawar — demonstrates that the contingency route is already operating. The planned one-million-litre Mahmood Kot shipment would increase the volume delivered by rail if completed as scheduled.
Authorities have not yet announced how long the daily rail arrangement will remain in place or the total volume expected to be moved under it. For now, the measure is being used to reinforce PSO depot supply rather than presented as a permanent replacement for normal road distribution.