LAHORE: Under tight security provided by the Pakistan Railways (PR) police, the 10th Pak-Iran international goods train carrying a huge quantity of sulfur, salt, rice and other items has moved from Peshawar for Zahedan (Iran), making the freight train operations successful.

Prior to this, nine trains have successfully completed their trips from Pakistan to Iran during the last two months, according to the official sources.

“The Zahedan-bound train is on the way and is likely to enter territory of Iran in the late hours of Monday (today). The train carries a huge quantity of high quality sulfur and rice loaded from Peshawar and Gujranwala, respectively,” an official source in the Pakistan Railways explained while talking to Dawn.

“The train, like the ITI (Islamabad-Tehran-Turkey) goods’ train, is also travelling under tight security of the railways police,” he added.

Pakistan has broad gauge rail network having 5.6 feet width up to Zahedan (Iran).

Therefore, the goads carried by the Pakistani trains are unloaded at Zahedan and then transshipped to trucks or the trains compatible to run on the standard gauge rail track having 4 feet and 8.5 inches width laid further (from Zahedan).

It is also called international, uniformed normal Stephenson as well as the European gauge. It is the most widely used rail gauge across the world.

But the broad gauge rail track is being used in Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Chile and the Bay Area of San Francisco (the US).

The Pakistan Railways (PR) is also working on a proposal for laying the country’s first standard gauge rail track from Quetta to Taftan in

a bid to make infrastructure compatible with international standards and to transport high-value goods to European and Central Asian countries within the shortest time.

Published in Dawn, March 21st, 2022