Pakistan, China sign ML-1 railways agreement

BEIJING: Pakistan and China have signed an agreement for the expansion and reconstruction of existing Karachi-Lahore Peshawar (ML-1) railway track.The document was signed by Prime Minister Imran Khan and his counterpart Li Keqiang in Beijing on Sunday.In a statement from Beijing, Minister for Railways Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said it is a great day in history of Pakistan Railways.He said under the project a double track from Peshawar to Karachi will be laid.The minister said speed of train on new track will be 160 kilometer per hour.According to the project details available on CPEC website, the entire track of 1,872 kms from Karachi to Peshawar would be doubled.The speed of passenger trains would be raise from 65/110km/h to 160 km/h however, the freight trains would operate at 120 km/h.Computer based signaling and control system will also be installed.