Khunjerab Railway

Taxila-Khunjerab Railway Line
ٹیکسلا - خنجراب مرکزی راه آهن خط
Overview
Other name(s) Khunjerab Railway
Termini Taxila Junction
Khunjerab
Operation
Owner Pakistan Railways
Operator(s) Pakistan Railways
Technical
Line length 682 km (424 mi)
Track gauge 1,676 mm (5 ft 6 in)
Operating speed 105 km/h (65 mph) (Current)
160 km/h (99 mph) (Proposed)[1]
Route map

Legend
 to Kashgar–Hotan Railway
 China
 Pakistan
Border
 Khunjerab Junction
 Gilgit
 Chilas
 Mansehra
 Abbottabad
 Havelian
 Baldher
 Serai Saleh
 Haripur Hazara
 Kot Najib Ullah
 Usman Khattar
 Mohra Shah Wali
 Taxila Cantonment Junction
 on Karachi-Peshawar Line

Taxila-Khunjerab Railway Line (Urdu: ٹیکسلا - خنجراب مرکزی راه آهن خط‎), also known as Khunjerab Railway or Karakoram Railway, is one of several proposed railway lines in Pakistan, to be operated and maintained by Pakistan Railways. The current active line begins from Taxila Junction station and ends at Havelian station. A proposed extension will see new track laid from Havelian station to the Pakistan-China border town of Khunjerab where it will link up with China's Kashgar–Hotan Railway.[2][3]

History

Karakoram Highway route map

In 2007, consultants[4] were engaged to investigate the construction of a railway through this pass to connect China with transport in Pakistani-administered northern areas of Kashmir. A feasibility study started in November 2009 for a line connecting Havelian 750 km (466 mi) away in Pakistan and Kashgar 350 km (217 mi) in China.[5] The study will cover a 750-kilometre section between Havellian and the 4,730-metre-high Khunjerab Pass over Mansehra district and the Karakoram Highway. Havellian is already linked with the rest of the rail network in Pakistan; the Chinese will lay some 350 km of track within their own territory from Kashgar terminus up to the Khunjerab Pass, linking Pakistan with China's rail network, largely following the route of the Karakoram Highway.

In June 2014, China commissioned a "preliminary research study" to build an international rail link to Pakistan.[6] The 682 km proposed railway link is part of the China–Pakistan Economic Corridor,[7] and will commence construction during the second phase of CPEC between 2018-2022.[8][9] China's involvement in several rail projects in Pakistan is motivated primarily by commercial considerations, but it also sees distinct advantages for its improved transportation and access to Central Asia and the Persian Gulf states.

In the first week of this month, Pakistan Railways and China's Dongfang Electric Corporation signed an agreement for establishing a rail link between Havellian and Khunjerab.[10] Ingenieurgemeinschaft Lasser-Feizlmayr (ILF), a consortium of consultant engineers from Austria, Germany and Pakistan, is to submit its report to the Ministry of Railways in nine months. It is most likely that the distance between Havellian and Khunjerab will involve the construction of tunnels. The ILF services encompass both the construction of new high-speed railway lines and the modernization of existing lines for standard-gauge and narrow-gauge railways in addition to tunnels.

Route

The stations on this line are as follows:

Active Line

Proposed Line

Cost

Pakistan awarded a Rs72 million (US$1.2 million) contract to an international consortium to carry out a feasibility study for establishing a rail link with China to boost trade relations between the two countries.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Pakistan Railways: A Performance Analysis - Citizens’ Periodic Reports on the Performance of State Institutions (PDF). Islamabad: PILDAT. December 2015. p. 21. ISBN 978-969-558-589-4. Archived from the original (PDF) on January 24, 2016. Retrieved August 18, 2016.
  2. ↑ Pakistan Railways Time & Fare Table 2015 (PDF) (in English and Urdu) (October 2015 ed.). Pakistan: National Book Foundation. pp. 94–99. Archived from the original (PDF) on August 18, 2016. Retrieved 18 August 2016.
  3. ↑ Hotan railway open
  4. ↑ Syed Fazl-e-Haider (February 24, 2007). "China-Pakistan rail link on horizon". Online Asia Times: South Asia.
  5. ↑ "Kashi, China". Global Gazetteer Version 2.2. Falling Rain Genomics. 1996–2010.
  6. ↑ China tables railway project linking to Pakistan
  7. ↑ "Railway line to be laid from Havelian to Khunjerab under CPEC: Rashid". Radio Pakistan. Retrieved 2016-06-18.
  8. ↑ "New railway line to be laid from Havelian to Khunjrab: Khawaja". Business Recorder. Retrieved 2016-06-18.
  9. ↑ "Pak-China likely to ink MoU for rail link". www.dawn.com. 2010-07-06. Retrieved 2016-06-18.
  10. ↑ Dongfang Electric. "Transportation".
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/19/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.