Railways to transport over 20% of freight business after completion of ML-I

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Railways is expecting to transport over 20 per cent of the country’s freight business after the completion of Main Line-I (ML-I) under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.

Currently, Pakistan Railways was transporting 4 per cent of the freight traffic in the country, which was not sufficient for the department, an official in the Ministry of Railways told APP.

He said the ML-I has been planned to be executed in three packages, adding that the preliminary design of the project has been completed and a formal request for the loan for Package-I has been conveyed to the Chinese side.

The ML-I is 1,872km long track from Peshawar to Karachi and expected to create around 24,000 jobs and would jump up train speed to 160km/hour, he added.

The railway line would be upgraded from Karachi to Peshawar and Taxila to Havelian, while a new track would be laid with improved sub grade for 160km/hour, he said.

Bridges would also be rehabilitated and constructed. Moreover, he said, the provision of modern signalling and telecom systems, conversion of level-crossing into underpasses or flyovers, fencing of track, establishment of dry port near Havelian and upgradation of Walton Training Academy (Lahore) were also the components of this gigantic project.

The official said the completion of the project would not only create direct (20,000 local labour/technical experts and 4,000 Chinese experts) jobs but also reduce travel time between Karachi to Lahore from 18 to 10 hours.

The capacity of the line would also be increased from 34 trains to 170 trains/day and the speed of the freight trains would be increased at 120km/hour.

After its completion, he said, the project would generate economic opportunities for daily wagers in the main train stations of major cities and would also attract foreign investment.