China has allocated funds to do preliminary research on building an international railway connecting the westernmost city of Kashgar in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region with Pakistan’s deep-sea Gwadar Port on the Arabian Sea, according to the director of Xinjiang’s regional development and reform commission.
“The 1,800-kilometer China-Pakistan railway is planned to also pass through Pakistan’s capital of Islamabad and Karachi,” Zhang Chunlin said as the two-day International Seminar on the Silk Road Economic Belt commenced on Thursday in Urumqi, Xinjiang’s capital.
“Although the cost of constructing the railway is expected to be high due to the hostile environment and complicated geographic conditions, the study of the project has already started,” Zhang said.
The railway, which cannot avoid running through the Pamir Plateau and Karakoram Mountains, will be one of the hardest to build but most vital transportation infrastructures on the China-Pakistan corridor along China’s newly proposed Silk Road Economic Belt, he added.
“China and Pakistan will co-fund the railway construction. Building oil and gas pipelines between Gwadar Port and China is also on the agenda,” Zhang said.Control of Gwadar Port was given to China and an agreement was signed with China Overseas Ports Holding Co on May 16, 2013, to transfer operational rights from the Port Authority of Singapore.
The move means China now is running a port just opposite the Gulf of Oman, an important route for oil tankers.
The speed of road and railway construction in Xinjiang was significantly increased after September 2013, when President Xi Jinping raised the idea of the economic belt, Zhang said.
Xi proposed reviving the ancient trade routes connecting China, Central Asia and Europe.
To become a transportation hub and China’s core area on the economic belt, the government has decided to develop three main corridors through southern, central and northern Xinjiang, which connects China with Russia, Europe and Pakistan.
Work is also due to begin soon on the long-planned China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway.
The region, which borders eight countries, also plans to open three new land ports to Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Russia.
“We will consider opening the ports to Afghanistan and India once social stability can be ensured. After all, openness is the foundation of boosting trade,” Zhang said.
Re: China launches study to build rail link to Pakistan via Azad Kashmir
That’s great news. China should offer Pakistanis visas on arrival. At the moment Nepal does this. Right now many thousands of Nepali workers are trapped in Iraq and the Nepali gov has requested the Pakistani gov to help through diplomatic channels in getting those citizens back. Must be a way..maybe by talking to the other OIC countries in helping getting these workers back safely.
Re: China launches study to build rail link to Pakistan via Azad Kashmir
You would need a railway in the RCD countries (iran, pakistan and turkey) as I think that turkey does have links with europe.
I think that with this railway, the mountain link from kashgar to somewhere in n northern pakistan? is a must but then they would probably widen the current tracks from islamabad to karachi. Perhaps that is one route while they construct another direct route to gawadar going through peshawar and quetta.
Re: China launches study to build rail link to Pakistan via Azad Kashmir
You might as well ship through karachi then ship to karachi and then divert to gawadar. The original plan is to rehabilitate balochistan and KPK through this railway as it would create jobs.
I think that Pakistan should really use small tribes in Pakistan's favor against the bigger tribes so there is peace and people can get educated. Considering the province is huge, there would be immigration into the province so not only should the tax net be increased but the BLA types need to made irrelevant. Pakistan has rather successfully integrated pashtuns considering ANP is a pakistani pashtun nationalist instead of the old bachcha khan politics. That was one clueless person.