Islamabad: Pakistan and China have signed the ‘declaration of the preliminary design’ agreement to upgrade the Mainline-1 (ML-1) project, a news source reported. Railways Minister Sheikh Rashid and Chinese Ambassador to Pakistan Yao Jing signed the said agreement for the first phase of the ML-1 project, which spans the railway track from Peshawar to Karachi.
Pursuing the agreement, China’s National Railway Administration and Pakistan Railways will begin construction work on the project. Both sides will sign the final agreement for the project’s total cost and financing and the resources and options available at a later date.
Sources report that the ML-1 project will reach completion in the next five years – construction taking place in three phases. It consists of a 1,872-km long railway track from Peshawar to Karachi, which will be built along the existing one. This will convert the development into a double-track route. The project is expected to incur a cost of USD 8.2 billion. It also includes the constriction of bridges and crossings.
The ML-1 project is aimed at expanding the capacity of Pakistan Railways in several ways. It will:
Increase the speed of passenger trains as well as freight trains
Double the number of trains commuting between the cities, along with increasing share of freight trains
Reduce the travel time from Rawalpindi to Karachi and Lahore
Create 20,000 direct jobs and 150,000 indirect jobs
The ML-1 project also includes a computer-based signalling and control system, along with a grade separation system. These provisions are geared towards ensuring safety of train operations.
