Report by Engineering Post
Groundbreaking of Pakistan Railways Main Line (ML-1) Karachi to Kotri section is likely to take place in September 2026. However, this possible groundbreaking of the first section of Karachi to Peshawar ML-1 was subject to Manila, the Philippines headquartered Asian Development Bank (ADB) ‘s completion of $ 2 billion loan procedure for financing Karahi-Rohri section upgradation. ML-1 upgradation and rehabilitation was also to be financed as a major Railways development project under the overall framework of the great game changer CPEC and also to be partly funded by the Asian International Infrastructure Bank (AIIB) since China has agreed to multilateral funding of the ML-1. Completion of the first 480 kilometers Karachi to Rohri section of ML-1 was expected to reduce journey time between Karachi and Peshawar by about five to six hours as the upgradation and rehabilitation project completion was likely to increase speed of the passenger trains as well as of goods trains quite substantially.
