Ministry of Railways has dispatched a summary of $9.249 billion to the Planning Commission for the PC-1 of restoration and up-gradation of Main Line-I (ML-I) railway project under the CPEC.
ML-I up-gradation project will not only increase the speed of trains to 160 KM per hour but also raise the number of trains up to 30 by 2024.
With the acceptance of PC-I, the first phase of Karachi-Peshawar Railway Project will be concluded in the next four years. However, the second and third phases will take seven years to completely restore and modernize the Pakistan railway network.
Around $2.368 billion will be spent on CPEC project phase-1, while phase 2 will cost $3.267 billion and phase 3 will cost around $3.676 billion.
In phase 1, the Kaluwal track will be upgraded to 52 kilometres along with the construction of a dual track. The track between Lala Musa to Rawalpindi will be upgraded while the track from Peshawar to Naushehra and the railway Walton academy will be upgraded.
It has also been decided that the distance of 183 kilometres between Rohri and Nawabshah will be covered by upgrading the speed of the train to 160 kilometres per hour.
In phase 2 the 339 kilometre-long track between Multan and Lahore will also be upgraded to run trains up to a speed of 160 kilometres per hour.
A new track will be constructed between Lahore and Lala Musa while the 182 kilometre track between Keamari to Hyderabad will also be upgraded, alongside constructing a dry port in Havelian.
In phase 3, a new track will be constructed besides upgrading the 174 kilometre track between Rawalpindi and Peshawar. The upgrading of 749 kilometre double track between Multan and Hyderabad, the purchase of locomotives and cargo carriages is included in this phase.