RAWALPINDI: After completing a feasibility study worth Rs57 million for connecting Muzaffarabad with the main railway network of the country, Pakistan Railways has now realised that Murree should also be connected to the network and has now started a fresh feasibility study.

A senior Pakistan Railways official told Dawn that the feasibility study for connecting Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) with the main railway network of the country was started in 2014 and completed in 2016.

After the study was complete, he said, the federal and provincial governments had pointed out that Murree should also be connected to the railway network.

He said that according to a previous study, a railway track was to be lain downstream of the Murree Hills and that it was later decided that the track will go through Ghora Gali and Bhurban.

He said the Pakistan Railways had then directed the Kashmir Railways Committee to conduct a fresh feasibility study for adding main Murree in the project, work on which has started and which has increased the cost of the project from Rs57 million to Rs130 million.

“The federal government is working on including the Kashmir Railways project in the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) so that funds for the procurement of land will be acquired easily,” a senior official of the Railways Ministry told Dawn.

He said that though the Kashmir Railways will be built on the build, operate and transfer basis, the land for the project will be acquired by the Pakistan Railways, the funds for which will be set aside from the CPEC project.

“The project for connecting AJK and the hilly areas with the main railway lines should have been started 30 years ago, just as China laid down railway tracks to Tibet and India connected its hilly areas many years ago,” he said.

The official added that during the tenure of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in the late 70s, there were plans to connect Islamabad with the main railway line which was stopped. Had that project been completed, it would have been easier to connect Murree with Islamabad and the on to AJK.

Under the initial plans now, he said, a railway track will be laid from the Margalla Railway Station towards Murree.

“Because the Margalla Railway Station is also a dry port, a freight service is also likely to be launched on this section,” he said.

When asked, Kashmir Railways Committee Chief Executive Officer Ashfaq Khattak said that an Austrian Company by the name of ILF Engineering was working on the feasibility study for connecting AJK to the main railway, which will soon be completed.

He said a fresh study was required for alignment as three stations in Murree – including Ghora Gali, Jheeka Gali and Bhurban- were added to the project.

“A 35 to 40 kilometre long track for connecting Muzaffarabad to Dhudial will also be added to the project,” he said.

However, Mr Khattak said there were no plans yet for adding the project to CPEC and that the government will make a decision in this regard after the feasibility study is completed and presented for approval.

Published in Dawn January 26th, 2017