ISLAMABAD – Minister for Railways Sheikh Rashid Ahmed Thursday said thatthe government has decided to finalize preliminary design for the upgradation of Main Line-I (ML-I) between Peshawar to Karachi (1877) by theend of this March.
It was agreed between Minister for Railways and Deputy Administrator,National Railway Administration, China An Lusheng in Video Conference onprogress and review on ML-I, the Minister told APP.
He said that conference was attended by senior officials of the ministryincluding Chairman and Secretary Sikandar Sultan Raja, Member Finance, Director General Planning and Director General Technical.
He said the formal signing ceremony will be held in the month of Aprilduring the upcoming visit of Prime Minister Imran Khan to China.
Sheikh Rashid informed the Chinese counterpart that ML-I was most importantproject between two countries especially for Pakistan Railways for itsrevival and economic uplift of the area.He said that ML-I was the project under China-Pakistan Economic Corridor(CPEC) and estimated cost of the project and establishment of dry port nearHavelian were $8.2 billion.
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The scope of the project was induction of 50 locomotives, 300 passengercoaches and 2,000 freight wagons and up-gradation of Walton TrainingAcademy, he said.
With completion of ML-I, he said it will increase speed from 65-105 km/h to160-220km/h, increase freight volumes from six to 35 tons per annum by 2025and increase the railway’s share in freight transport from less than fourpercent to 20 percent.
