ISLAMABAD — Pakistan has approved $7.2 billion railway line upgradation project between Peshawar and Karachi under the China Pakistan Economic Corridor, CPEC.

The approval of the project to upgrade the 1,872 km-long railway track from Peshawar to Karachi is a big milestone for the second phase of the CPEC, said Lt. Gen. (retd,) Asim Saleem Bajwa, chairman of the CPEC Authority.

The main railway will link the southern Chinese city of Kashgar with the Gwadar port on the southwest coast of Balochistan province. The Chinese President Xi Jinping will open the project during his upcoming visit to Pakistan.

The project includes the modernization of the railway that runs from northwest Peshawar to South Karachi, with a length of 1,872 km, and an increase in the speed of passenger trains from 110 to 160 km per hour.

Bajwa added that the approval paved the way for final negotiations with China to finance the project with the knowledge of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), while the World Bank linked the project's success to bringing about governance reforms in the railways. — WAM