Read by

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Pakistan Railways Providing Linkage To The
Region

14th February 06 Karachi
Read by BY I.H. Khilji PROJECT DIRECTOR Karachi
Circular Railway
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General Description
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Rail Link with neighbouring countries
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• In the past Railway development have been
  channelised through National Action Plan and
  funding but with the growing globalization of
  trade, rail linkages of Pakistan with many
  developing countries in Asia are felt to be
  imperative and Donor Agencies finds investment in
  services sector to be lucrative one.
• The geographical parameters and location of
  Pakistan as Transit Trade Hub for investment
  generates cargo traffic to and from neighboring
  countries like Afghanistan, India, Iran and China
  and the freight volume is growing at Karachi Port
  and is also likely to increase at inland terminal
  points.
• Pakistan has at present two points in Karachi
  viz Port Qasim and Kemari which are operational
  and these ports handle the Cargo in and from
  abroad.
• The volume of Cargo handled by these two ports
  during the last year is as given below-

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Import position and handled by Karachi Port Trust
Port Bin Qasim July-June 2004-05
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• Under Pak-India Rail-Agreement freight traffic
  also moves between Pakistan India via
  Wagah-Attari Rail Link which is indicated below
  -
• Mirpurkhas Monabao Rail link is ready for
  opening most likely during the current month
  (18th February 2006).

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Cross Border Transportation

• Current cross border facilities for access to all
  4 neighbouring countries i.e. Afghanistan, India,
  Iran China exist at present. These facilities
  need to be revamped in view of growing trade of
  Goods as these facilities and rolling stock used
  for movement are rather antiquated and we are in
  dire need of modernization which include -
• Facilities at Wagah are comparatively better,
  but the trade is limited and it is likely to go
  up in view of current CBMS and SAFTA.
• Facilities at Torkham which is actually border
  point with Afghanistan are non-existent as it is
  not financially viable to design track between
  Peshawar Torkham for bulk trade. Now Pakistan
  Railways plans to shift the existing Dry Port
  facilities in congested area of Peshawar to
  Azakhel which is located at a logically better
  place.

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Pak Iran Rail Traffic

• Pakistan Railways has access inside Iran up to
  Zahidan (about 707 kilometers) from Quetta via
  Taftan without break of gauge. The freight trains
  operated by Pakistan Railways motive power move,
  upto Zahidan without any logistic
  interruption(s).
• A Memorandum of Agreement signed in year 1959
  regulates the rail movement between the two
  countries. Accordingly, Pakistan Railways rolling
  stock is moved to Iranian side, for which Iranian
  railways pays hire and other charges to the
  Pakistan Railways for utilization of its sources
  inside Iran.

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• The major commodities exchanged between two
  countries are Sulphur and Bitumen from Iran and
  Rice from Pakistan. Since the traffic between the
  two countries is not balanced, therefore, empty
  freight wagons are worked by Pakistan Railways to
  Zahidan.
• Recently the trade delegations from Pakistan
  have visited Iran and a protocol has been signed
  for export of fruit from Pakistan to Iran. This
  will generate traffic for Pakistan Railways in
  near future after the completion of the rail link
  between Zahidan and Bamm.
• The freight trains run between the two
  countries are subject to availability of traffic
  on both sides. However, with the increase in
  trade volume more traffic can be handled
  specially with the increase in trade into Central
  Asian States through Iran and freight movement
  between Iran and Afghanistan through Pakistan.
• The track between Quetta Zahidan needs
  up-gradation so as to increase the speed and
  avoid any interruptions due to flash floods not
  un-common in this region. At present the movement
  of trains on this section is slow, however,
  Pakistan Railways considering the importance of
  this Section is working on plan to up-grade and
  make it fit for higher speed to handle future
  traffic volume in this part of the region.

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Interchange of Goods Stock Quetta-Zahidan-Quetta
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Constraints regarding traffic between
Pakistan-Iran

• The hire and other charges are on very low
  side, and Pakistan Railways is suffering heavy
  financial losses for keeping the section between
  Iran-Pakistan operative. Recently, Iranian
  Railways, has however, agreed to accept an
  increase in the charges.
• The rolling stock i.e. freight wagons and
  locomotives are subject to detention at Zahidan
  due to lack of terminal facilities. This issue
  has been discussed in detail during the meeting
  of the two sides and now wagon releases are
  better.

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Pak Afghan Rail Traffic
Afghanistan is a land locked country and has
access to Karachi Port and Qasim Port through
Pakistan Railways under the provision of Protocol
between the two countries signed in 1965. The
Goods in Transit to Afghanistan (GITA) are
transported from Port of Karachi and Port Qasim
to Peshawar Chaman, the nearest points to
Afghanistan. However, there is no reverse traffic
available for exports at Karachi. The details of
traffic handled for Afghanistan through Pakistan
Railways is outlined as below -
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• Pakistan Railways provides competitive rates and
  rail transportation charges on a less than road
  as indicated below-

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Constraints regarding handling of Goods in
Transit to Afghanistan

• No serious problems are faced by Pakistan
  Railways for matters relating to rail movement
  except demand for lowering of freight charges,
  which have been reduced on the request of
  Afghanistan Government and Afghan Cargo is now
  charged at national rates for last three years.
• However, sometimes due to anti-terrorist and
  limited road clearances, free flow of traffic is
  interrupted and cause heavy accumulation to the
  loaded wagons on Pakistan side, which adversely
  affects railway operations and supply of wagons
  for other important traffic within country.
  Measures are being taken by both the Governments
  to eliminate/minimize these interruptions.
• Pakistan Railways can help freight traffic to
  go further to other Central Asian countries to
  and from Afghanistan through ports as part of
  Trans Asian Railways network. In this regard
  linkage of Kandhar with Chaman by Rail will be
  entering into a project stage in near future.

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Measures and Development Plans to handle traffic
for Central Asian Countries
Dry Ports

• A Dry Port is a land extension of sea ports
  with custom clearance facilities for the
  importers and exporters close to their door
  steps. The main objective of establishing the Dry
  Port is to broaden the base of international
  trade to achieve a balanced regional growth and
  liquidate the congestion at the sea ports by
  speeding up the clearance of the cargo. Keeping
  in view these objectives, Dry Ports have been
  established all over the country not only to
  facilitate national trade but also international
  trade. Important Dry Ports are -

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Dry Ports Managed by Railways

• Lahore, Karachi, Quetta, Peshawar, Multan and
  Margallah (Islamabad). The Dry Ports Quetta,
  Peshawar are helpful for carriage of GITA
  traffic, Margallah Dry Port is expected to handle
  the upwards road traffic to China by Korakrum
  Highway.

Dry Ports Managed by Trusts

• Faisalabad, Samrial and Multan. These are
  inland dry ports providing trade linkage via
  Karachi Port for export cargo.

Dry Ports Managed by National Logistic Cell (NLC)

• These are located at Thokar Niaz Beg, Lahore
  and Quetta. Another Dry Port at Jamrood is also
  placed by NLC. These Dry Ports are helpful for
  multi-model movements by using a combination of
  rail-road service.

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New Dry Ports

• Pakistan Railways is establishing new Dry Ports
  are Margallah near Islamabad and at Chaman near
  Afghan Border to facilitate the trade with
  Afghanistan.
• Track is being extended into Afghanistan upto
  Spinbuldak and beyond up to Kandhar (141 Km).
  This will go a long way in furthering trade
  movement to Central Asian State through
  Afghanistan.
• Pakistan Railways is also actively planning to
  construct Azakhel Dry Ports (near Peshawar) and
  at Spezand (near Quetta).

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• Pakistan Railways traditionally own
  conventional freight stock which is of slow speed
  and low capacity which matched the need of time
  in the past. However, with the increase in the
  containerization of trade cargo over last many
  years Pakistan Railways has also been actively
  making efforts to bring its stock in line with
  its freight requirements and it is being
  modernized to meet with the requirements of
  International Trade from and to neighbouring
  countries.
• Pakistan Railways, has already introduced
  fleets of high capacity freight wagons on
  corridor between Lahore and Karachi as well as
  between Lahore and Peshawar including the
  Industrial City of Faisalabad. By this
  improvement the running time of freight trains,
  from Port to Lahore Dry Port has been slashed
  from 56 hours to 28 hours Similarly, the movement
  of Afghan Trade Transit to Peshawar Port has also
  become quicker.

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Fast Container/Freight Service on North-South
Corridor (From Karachi to Lahore and onward)
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• Business community has appreciated the
  introduction of high speed freight trains.
  Freight Forwarding Companies are co-operating
  with railways as freight transportation through
  rail is economical as compared to road.
• The foregoing submissions amply demonstrate
  that Pakistan Railways is actively pursuing the
  policy for providing effective and meaningful
  rail linkage to the neighbouring countries for
  promoting intra-regional trade, commerce and
  overall economic benefits for the mutual interest
  of all the countries and socio-economic benefits.

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Thank You