ISLAMABAD, April 7 The Pakistan Railways has decided to establish a train link between Peshawar and Jalalabad and a feasibility study is under way.

Official sources told Dawn on Wednesday that the track was already there till Landikotal, but a major infrastructure work would be required across the Afghan border.

The sources said that Afghanistan was interested in building a railway network and President Hamid Karzai, during his recent visit to Pakistan, had raised the issue of Pak-Afghan train network at the highest level.

The sources said that the feasibility study would be completed in six months after which the process of preparing the PC-I and getting approval of the CDWP and Ecnec and allocation for funds would begin.

They said the project could take three years because it would require construction of bridges and laying of tracks in the mountainous region.

In addition to passenger service, the Pakistan Railways is likely to focus more on freight train service to transport goods to Afghanistan under the transit trade agreement.

Opinion

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From hard to harder

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