ISLAMABAD: The route of the trilateral railway track Uzbekistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan (UAP) project has been finalised and its joint protocol will be signed on Tuesday. The route was finalised during a high-level meeting between the officials of Pakistan, Afghanistan and Uzbekistan.
The key objective of the UAP project was to build a missing rail link by connecting Uzbekistan railways with Pakistan railways via Termiz-Mazar e Sharif-Logar-Kharlachi route, said a press release.
The UAP railway project would not only facilitate the regional, transit and bilateral trade amongst the participating countries but also provide better people-to-people connections to the entire region. The line would support both passenger and freight services and would contribute in regional trade and economic growth. The parties also agreed on a roadmap for conducting technical studies, financing sources and other key aspects for early implementation of the project.
The parties appreciated the professional work of the experts of the three railways in achieving consensus on the final route and its implementation modalities.
Earlier, Uzbekistan has shared with Pakistan its feasibility study for the Trans-Afghan railway project during a trilateral working group meeting in Islamabad.
According to the study, a railway track of 783 kilometres would be laid from Mazar-e-Sharif to Torkham at a cost of $8 billion. Eighty tunnels of 148km would be established on the track.
As per the report, the track with tunnels would cost $4 million per kilometre.
The report further stated that the track from Mazar-e-Sharif to Torkham would be fully electric. –Agencies
