New railway tracks planned under CPEC: report

Dawn.com Published December 20, 2015

The government has planned major installation and upgradation of railway tracks under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, state-run website Radio Pakistan has reported.

Under the plan, new railway tracks will be laid from Gwadar to Quetta and Jacobabad via Besima.

Five hundred and sixty kilometres of track will be laid from Bostan to Kotla Jam on Main Line-II via Zhob and Dera Islamil Khan, while 682km of track will be laid from Havelian to Khunjrab, the state-run broadcaster's website said.

Upgradation of 1,872km of railway track from Karachi to Peshawar via Kotri, Multan, Lahore, and Rawalpindi (including Taxila-Havelian) – along with dualisation of track from Shahdara to Peshawar – will also be carried out.

Some 1,254 kilometres of railway track from Kotri to Attock City via Dadu, Larkana, Jacobabad, DG Khan, Bhakkar, Kundian will also be upgraded.

CPEC: background

The CPEC is a 3,000-kilometer network of roads, railways and pipelines to transport oil and gas from Gwadar Port to Kashgar city, northwestern China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.

Proposed by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang during his visit to Pakistan in May 2013, the CPEC will act as a bridge for the new Maritime Silk Route that envisages linking three billion people in Asia, Africa and Europe.

An official agreement on the corridor was signed between the two countries in May this year during President Xi Jinping's historic visit to Pakistan.

Read: Economic corridor in focus as Pakistan, China sign 51 MoUs.

A flagship project of the Belt and Road initiative as well, the CPEC intends to revive the ancient Silk Road with a focus on infrastructure, and constitutes the strategic framework of bilateral cooperation.

The project links China's strategy to develop its western region with Pakistan's focus on boosting its economy, including the infrastructure construction of Gwadar Port, together with some energy cooperation and investment programs.

It also involves road and railway construction including an upgrade of the 1,300-km Karakoram Highway, the highest paved international road in the world which connects China and Pakistan across the Karakoram mountains.

The CPEC will reduce China's routes of oil and gas imports from Africa and the Middle East by thousands of kilometers, making Gwadar a potentially vital link in China's supply chain.

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Madeeha Mahmood

Dec 20, 2015 02:06pm

Good news. It will improve life of many with improvement in infrastructure.

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Omar Khan

Dec 20, 2015 02:35pm

Excellent ... mashallah :)

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SAK(USA)

Dec 20, 2015 02:50pm

good for balochistan and the federation.

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Fast

Dec 20, 2015 03:01pm

Good initiative!!

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Shehzad Zafar

Dec 20, 2015 03:01pm

Now we are talking about real economic corridor.

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Shahid

Dec 20, 2015 03:08pm

We all know that China intends to use this route for transporting its oil needs from Gwadar to Kashgar but I always wondered what is there to be transported down stream. There is no industry in Xijiang today and possibility of future development is very much limited too as there is very little population in Chinese west and skilled labor is non existent. Secondly, at completion of all this development, it is projected that we will have to pay back our loans with about 10 billion USD every year. So the question is, how much transit fees the project will generate when the Chinese oil starts moving upwards? would it be enough to pay back the installments?

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Jaan-Bhittani

Dec 20, 2015 03:10pm

The Map looks fantastic.. let it be as it is without any changes.

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Salma

Dec 20, 2015 03:23pm

It seems as if Bisma is going to be a big junction of rails and roads and there by one of the most important industrial parks in the country. Good times arriving for Balochistan, InshAllah. Gwader, Bisma, Khuzdar and Quetta would prosper and will be catching up with rest of Pakistan. The Balochs need to give up militancy now and work together hand in hand to formulate the strategy and planning of their provinces otherwise those who sit outside would be left out and forgotten.

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shami

Dec 20, 2015 03:23pm

Go ahead CPEC

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Dr Khwaja Ajmal Waheed

Dec 20, 2015 03:30pm

Well done nawaz shared keep it up

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akram

Dec 20, 2015 03:58pm

I have been anticipating this good news for a while. Great news.

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Pakistan_Says

Dec 20, 2015 04:02pm

Fairly good News.

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Shahzad

Dec 20, 2015 04:14pm

Really good move. It will promote business and tourism industry tremendously,

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Muhammad Arshad

Dec 20, 2015 04:27pm

Great News

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Jawad

Dec 20, 2015 04:34pm

Bring the historic Silk road back.

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AMIR BANGASH

Dec 20, 2015 05:32pm

Good news.

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abid hussain

Dec 20, 2015 05:53pm

I hope and pray that the ambitious project is completed and is functional successfully. I have fears as many overt and covert forces are dying to foil this vital project.

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M M AMIN(old ravian )

Dec 20, 2015 06:39pm

Much to the chagrin of our enemies and some friends also ,this is going to impact geo Political matters in this region . Press on the two nations are going to benefit in a major way.Long live Pak China friendship!

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fida USA

Dec 20, 2015 07:03pm

This news is good for both China and Pakistan and will bring prosperity to Asia and Africa. The track itself will bring employment to the poor region of Baluchistan, KP and the western region of China. Prosperity in China and Pakistan is good for the people of Asia and Africa. It is time that the western nations should be kept at arms length.

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hamid shafiq

Dec 20, 2015 07:20pm

Day dreaming is very bad habit, i do not understand that Pakistani govt make such statement in which reality and dream two different things. 1) the route which mention in above picture require so much research work related to local area but no body knows from Gawader to Quetta and Quetta to upper area is a not joke it require heavy machinery for construction and it requires may be more than 10 years for construction and only possible if Chinese involved in that project. one example for Pakistani people working ,from Lodharan to Lahore takes 13 years for track project which is a flat area no hills no mountains no gradient but here you can see a different location with different climate. kindly its dream but not reality till it happens.

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Malik Achakzai

Dec 20, 2015 07:26pm

Good gesture; if it goes through western route; would connect Peshawar and Quetta soon

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Ali Akhtar(Multan)

Dec 20, 2015 07:36pm

Excellent move.

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Saeed Masood

Dec 20, 2015 08:41pm

CPEC..Is not an ordinary game changer...unlimited people will get jobs...the business will see and touch new horizons...and once the momentum picks up the overseas Pakistanis will start returning with trillions of dollars...just wait and see Pakistan go high and high...This gift is sent by God... Inshahallah..

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sattar malik

Dec 20, 2015 09:08pm

This project is very usefull for the balochistan and my beutifull city Dera Ismail Khan i hope it should be complete

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Syed Ahmed, Canada

Dec 20, 2015 10:16pm

Z.A. Bhutto was known as evil genius, he may have done many wrong deeds but did some marvelous works. One of those was establishing communication with Northern Areas of Pakistan. He entrusted construction of roads and bridges from Havelian to Besham to Frontier Works Organization (FWO) and restoration on telecommunication network the northern areas to Special Communication Organization (SCO). The rail road network being planned may be entrusted to FWO / NLC for better results.

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Iffi

Dec 20, 2015 10:32pm

Rising Pakistan InshAllah

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Saeed Masood

Dec 20, 2015 11:02pm

The biggest genious Z.A.Bhutto did was the friendship with China...America and England had put tremendous pressure on Ayub Khan to denounce China...Bhutto did not let Ayub Khan do it...see the fruits of that now...Pakistan has only one friend in this world which is China...

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aslam shaikh

Dec 20, 2015 11:12pm

This project needs extreme level of security as there are lot of anti-Pakistan forces which don't want this to work. We should make sure these lifelines of rail and roads are created.

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Sallu Bhai

Dec 20, 2015 11:13pm

Thank you PMLn

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Nazakat khan

Dec 20, 2015 11:21pm

We need to be united & pray for our beloved Pakistan" good move by both countires.

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probono publico

Dec 20, 2015 11:32pm

@Shahid, everything from China will come down south, because China is connecting the route to their main grids of roads and railways.

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Iqbal

Dec 21, 2015 12:33am

@Shahid Thank you - I have been asking the same question for a long time but no answers. I have seen reports in Dawn about the economy around the Highways connecting Pakistan & China. The Chinese Trucks do not entertain local businesses and have a preference for Chinese joints around the highway. The locals had very high expectations from the projects but have only found dismal business situations.

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AdHawk

Dec 21, 2015 12:51am

We still don't have a dual track to Peshawar? Pathetic.

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azal Karim

Dec 21, 2015 01:06am

Road Transport mafia will be jealous to see renewal of Railways in Pakistan which they have been successfully blocking for decades. Thank you China.

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tehleel atif

Dec 21, 2015 01:46am

best ov luck it was a very good news for pak and chine

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Shahid

Dec 21, 2015 02:12am

@hamid shafiq, it is a part of the CPEC. Lodhran to Lahore took 13 years due to lack of funds which is not the case here. And then you must know that there already was a railway line from Quetta to Zhob which is not functional any more. They only have to rehabilitate it and then build some 80 km more to D.I.Khan where it will connect the existing west line. The real project here is Gwader to Quetta which may take about 5 years. FOW have been very efficient in building the road from Gwader to Quetta which they say already has reached about 600 km. So it is very much possible to carve the rail path too. Very little of it is mountains. More over, I also think that the rail project won't be ready before 2030 as the real challenge lies in the north, from Havelian to Khunjrab.

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Shaukat

Dec 21, 2015 03:54am

@Shahid ,totally wrong($10 Billion a year payback) that means $46 B. has to be paid in four and a half year , no sir we are talking about 35-40 year life span of this loan which will generate a tremendous revenues for Pakistan for ever.

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Dec 21, 2015 04:14am

Chinafication of Pakistan, God bless Pakistan.

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Hamid

Dec 21, 2015 04:48am

This is called drain of wealth. And people are clapping.

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DMDil

Dec 21, 2015 05:37am

what kind of rail tracks are those? will it be for fast trains, or those trains at 140km/h?

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Hashim

Dec 21, 2015 06:24am

This railway track could be the most significant piece of work in Pakistan since its creation. Once completed, the opportunities arising would be endless. The only hope is that the track is built using the modern methods so that trains can travel at high speeds and not take two or three days going across Pakistan.

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Raj Patel

Dec 21, 2015 07:53am

Good project. Let us wait till it reaches on ground from paper.

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jamshed

Dec 22, 2015 03:46am

@Raj Patel Don't loose sleep on it my friend. Knowing Chinese engineering feat/s in their own country it will be translated something very tangible in just few years. China is a master builder of the 21st century. They have built 31000 KM of railway tracks in China in just last 13 years. It is Pakistan's responsibility to provide safe working environment. If past performance is any indication then we are not worried Pakistan biggest concern should be terrorism from Afghanistan. You know what I mean?

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Lockhorn

Dec 22, 2015 03:49am

@Shahid Cheaper Chinese goods will start moving downstream bound for the Pakistani markets. Win-win for China.

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Krezy

Dec 22, 2015 10:22am

I want feasibility to be diacussed by a parliamentary committe rather getting only nod from Planning Commission... we desparately need investments in communication system, which is also vital for gelling of all federating units...

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rehan

Dec 22, 2015 10:48am

It's very amusing to see how people keep squealing about how it's China that's going to get everything from this project . People like these have nothing to do but criticize , criticize and criticize some more . If China is doing nothing for Pakistan then dear pseudo-intellectuals , what are *you* doing for Pakistan? It's a win-win for you too . Do absolutely nothing for Pakistan and yet feed on it's resources . I would rather trust Pakistan with China instead of useless critics such as yourselves !

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Hamid shafiq

Dec 22, 2015 12:21pm

@Shahid I read your reply,do you think its easy from Gwader to Quetta to construct a railway line? FWO may be very good in construction of bridges and roads but railway track requires huge machinery and so on. From Quetta to Zhob that track almost deleted many track theft and many bury in earth. when you build a road you do not need to install a signal system and road crossings, also you must construct railways stations, loop lines and much more. you also mark 2030 for completion but my point of view its 2050 its much better and no body knows in future if afghan civil war enter in Pakistan then every thing is ruined.

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