ISLAMABAD: The railway track between Pakistan and Iran is fully functional where an average ten freight trains (5-up/5-down) are being operated on the Quetta-Taftan section per month.

The feasibility study for rehabilitation and improvement of track from Quetta to Taftan was carried out at an estimated cost of us $ 698 million in June, 2019 to design and run the train at 120 kilometres per hour speed, according to an official document.

Pakistan Railways has offered this section for up-gradation to potential investors of different countries including Russia, Kazakhstan, Iran and Belarus on Public Private Partnership (PPP) and Built Operate Transfer (BOT) mode.

About the proposal to extend and connect rail link between Pakistan and Afghanistan under China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project, the rail link was discussed in the 5th Joint Cooperation Committee (JCC) meeting held in 2015. However, it has not been included in CPEC project yet.

It was stated that the rail link between Pakistan and Afghanistan via Main Line-1 had been planned through another project of Mazar-e-Sharif-Kabul-Peshawar rail link for which a road map between Uzbekistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan had already been signed.