Pakistan eyes standard gauge line to the Middle East and Europe

[Maybach]

PAKISTAN Railways (PR) is working on plans to construct a 635km standard-gauge line from Quetta to Taftan on the Pakistan-Iranian border.

The Dawn newspaper reports that the proposed railway would support the transport of high-value goods to Europe and Central Asia. Trains on the Islamabad – Tehran – Istanbul route currently take around five days to complete the journey, with the newspaper quoting sources suggesting that this is because of the condition of the track. It is claimed that a standard-gauge line would reduce journey times to 20 hours.

The project is reported to cost $US 500m but requires approval by the Ministry of Railways.

Dawn also reports that the Pakistan Ministry of Railways may request Iran constructs a 95km standard-gauge line from Taftan to Zahedan, Iran, to connect with the Taftan – Quetta railway.

Source: International Railway Journal

 

[Calthrop]

I'm not knowledgeable about these issues, and there are quite likely subtleties of which I'm unaware: but from what I can make out, Taftan is the Pakistan-side point on the Pakistan / Iran border, on the existing Quetta -- Zahedan 1676mm gauge line (my rather aged atlas would seem to call the place Qila Safed). I'm assuming that the "Islamabad -- Tehran -- Istanbul route" mentioned, follows in its eastern part, existing lines Islamabad -- Rohri -- Quetta -- Zahedan (with Afghanistan being in the way, anywhere further north).

With, as cited, much of the lengthy-transit issue being because of the condition of the track on the broad-gauge Quetta -- Taftan -- Zahedan line; would it not be simpler and cheaper to upgrade the track on this line -- maybe to make it mixed broad and standard gauge (the respective Pakistani and Iranian rail undertakings taking care of that project, as appropriate)? Or is it already overwhelmed with slow-moving freight traffic, precluding interruption of this for engineering work? The map would suggest that the mooted new standard-gauge line would need to follow much the same course as the existing broad-gauge one (pesky Afghanistan obstructing, again). Does this project in fact, envisage laying a standard-gauge track adjacently parallel to the existing b/g line between Quetta and Zahedan? Perhaps I'm asking naive questions here; at all events -- would like to understand better, this interesting matter.

 

[Maybach]

I have found the original Dawn Newspaper article but I don't think it necessarily answers all (or any!) of your questions! (Sorry it's a bit long but probably worth quoting almost in full):

LAHORE: The Pakistan Railways (PR) has started working on a proposal for laying the country’s first standard gauge rail track from Quetta to Taftan in a bid to make infrastructure compatible with international standards and to transport high-value goods to European and Central Asian countries within the shortest period.

A sum of USD500m is expected to be incurred on the 635km long track and the PR is likely to get a feasibility carried out in the near future, subject to approval of the proposal by the Ministry of Railways.

The department may request Iran to also lay 95km long standard gauge rail track from Taftan (Pakistan) to Zahedan (Iran) once it decides to lay the same rail track within its territory (Quetta to Taftan), Dawn has learnt.

“We have broad gauge, which is compatible with the rail system in India, Bangladesh and some other countries. But it is not compatible with the system of Iran, Turkey, Europe and Central Asia based on the standard gauge rail. That’s why we have started considering a proposal to better go for the standard gauge rail to ease connectivity and mobility and make our rail infrastructure compatible with the international standards (standard gauge),” a senior PR official explained told Dawn.

The need to lay standard gauge from Quetta to Taftan arose after the railways authorities learnt that recently launched/resumed Islamabad-Tehran-Istanbul (ITI) freight train takes almost four to five days from Quetta to Zahedan (635km from Quetta to Taftan and 95kmn from Taftan to Zahedan) due to weak condition of the rail track (Quetta to Taftan). Due to this issue, the freight train loaded with the goods packed in containers etc go up to Zahedan only where these goods are transshipped to other wagons compatible to run on the standard gauge from Zahedan to Istanbul, Ankara and rest of Europe.

“If we lay the standard gauge from Quetta to Taftan on our own or in collaboration with any international funding agency and onward to Zahedan through Iran, we will also be able to complete the transshipping of the goods at Quetta instead of Zahedan,” the official maintained.

“Moreover, the travel time would also reduce massively from 4/5 days to just 20 hours or so. In general, the travel time to Turkey from Pakistan would also reduce drastically,” he said, adding that the same standard gauge track could also be used for compatible rolling stock, including the passenger coaches as being used in Europe.

The official said the Islamabad-Tehran-Istanbul train type facility could also be launched for Azerbaijan and other Central Asian countries via Iran.

 

[Calthrop]

Thanks ! Things made somewhat clearer; but -- as you intimate -- in some aspects, still a bit mystifying. Trans-shipment would be necessary at some point, unless standard gauge were to be put in "the whole length of" Pakistan: not obvious to me why -- as per the article -- it would be greatly more expeditious to trans-ship at Quetta, rather than, as at present, Zahedan; unless -- perish the thought ! -- the Pakistanis want to be in charge of the trans-shipping themselves, rather than having the dozy and inefficient Iranians doing it ... and as for that leg of the journey taking 4/5 days versus 20 hours: as long as we're not talking sub-metric gauges, I can't figure out why what gauge the line there, is; can itself be a significant factor.

In the quote from the official, in the fourth paragraph: am a bit bemused by his citing of the rail system of "Iran, Turkey, Europe and Central Asia". Assuming that "Central Asia" here means the ex-Soviet "-Stan" countries -- are their railways not "Russian" 1524mm. gauge? Or, with the international rail link crossing the border near Mashhad in Iran; has standard gauge been introduced to those countries on a big scale, in recent times? (I realise that Googling could probably clarify things for me here.)

Other aspects aside; routes at present available, make it an awfully long way round, between Pakistan and Central Asia. Let's hear it for -- notwithstanding daunting geographical and political obstacles -- a new, 500 km. "beeline" (no doubt longer, in practice) rail route between Peshawar / Landi Kotal, and Dushanbe; sorting things out somehow, with the Afghans -- gauge(s) whatever would provide the best solution. Would make China's relatively new line to Lhasa, look feeble by comparison ...

 

[Gag Halfrunt]

Perhaps the thinking is that the line needs to be rebuilt anyway and all the traffic will be going to Zahedan so they might as well build a standard gauge line. Another factor is that China is interested in building railway links to Pakistan, which could eventually lead to a continuous standard gauge route from China to Europe via Iran and Turkey.

 

[Roast Veg]

Perhaps the thinking is that the line needs to be rebuilt anyway and all the traffic will be going to Zahedan so they might as well build a standard gauge line. Another factor is that China is interested in building railway links to Pakistan, which could eventually lead to a continuous standard gauge route from China to Europe via Iran and Turkey.

Apart from Lake Van?

 

[Gag Halfrunt]

Currently there aren't any continuous standard gauge routes from China to Turkey or anywhere in Europe. You have to use broad gauge lines in the former USSR.

Eurasian Land Bridge - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

New Eurasian Land Bridge - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Roast Veg]

Currently there aren't any continuous standard gauge routes from China to Turkey or anywhere in Europe. You have to use broad gauge lines in the former USSR.

I understand that, but there is presently no continuous line of any kind between Pakistan and Turkey, on account of a rather large body of water.

 

[Gag Halfrunt]

There are or were plans to replace the Lake Van train ferry with a railway around the lake.

 

[gordonthemoron]

Apart from Lake Van?

That was exactly my thinking

 

[Calthrop]

Perhaps the thinking is that the line needs to be rebuilt anyway and all the traffic will be going to Zahedan so they might as well build a standard gauge line. Another factor is that China is interested in building railway links to Pakistan, which could eventually lead to a continuous standard gauge route from China to Europe via Iran and Turkey.

Currently there aren't any continuous standard gauge routes from China to Turkey or anywhere in Europe. You have to use broad gauge lines in the former USSR.

General vague and "what might have been" musing, to which I tend -- what with humankind's propensity for being contentious and bad at co-operation: rather than being scornful of the world's long-standing mess of different rail gauges in various parts of it; I'm inclined toward some admiration of -- re matters prior to the general drive in recent decades toward gauge-standardisation -- how (highly relatively) well we did, re gauge-uniformity over quite large parts of the planet.

With the Indian sub-continent's having landed up with 1676mm for trunk lines, supplemented with a lot of metre gauge: if I have things rightly (I may well not), 1676mm there, came about because of some crucial decision-makers on the matter at the time, having been Scots; and that gauge having been prominent in the early and "not-joined-up" days of railways in Scotland -- and metre-gauge later on, as a sop (not affecting the mother country) to the considerable and vociferous "metrication" lobby which there was at the time in Britain. One takes it that a century and a half ago, virtually no-one saw the slightest realistic possibility -- what with "geography and politics" -- of railways in the sub-continent ever linking up with any in Persia / Turkey / thence Europe; or Russia; or China; so it really didn't matter much, what gauge then-India's railways, were. "That's all they knew..."

There are or were plans to replace the Lake Van train ferry with a railway around the lake.

On the general Lake Van subject, raised in this thread -- might a contrarian view be put: that it's a valid claim that the existence of a train-ferry, equates to there being actual rail track between the points linked by said ferry?

 

[Gag Halfrunt]

I imagine that metre gauge lines were built in India for cost reasons, not because of any metric lobby.

Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter curves, smaller structure gauges, and lighter rails, they can be less costly to build, equip, and operate than standard- or broad-gauge railways (particularly in mountainous or difficult terrain).[1] Lower-cost narrow-gauge railways are often used in mountainous terrain, where engineering savings can be substantial. Lower-cost narrow-gauge railways are often built to serve industries as well as sparsely populated communities where the traffic potential would not justify the cost of a standard- or broad-gauge line. Narrow-gauge railways have specialised use in mines and other environments where a small structure gauge necessitates a small loading gauge.

Narrow-gauge railway - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Calthrop]

I imagine that metre gauge lines were built in India for cost reasons, not because of any metric lobby.

Just -- 150-odd years ago: in the majority British view, "metric stuff is for Continentals; Imperial measures are our thing". At that time, the 3ft. 6in. (1067mm) gauge was taking off in many parts of the world, including much of the British Empire (Australia, New Zealand, southern Africa); what possessed the Brits to choose for Indian low-cost secondary main lines, metre gauge rather than the closely equivalent 3ft. 6in.?

 

[Roast Veg]

On the general Lake Van subject, raised in this thread -- might a contrarian view be put: that it's a valid claim that the existence of a train-ferry, equates to there being actual rail track between the points linked by said ferry?

Sure, but it's just as difficult to work with as a change of gauge, arguably moreso.

 

[MarcVD]

Regatding Van Lake : I don’t believe there are still plans to build a track around the lake. Turkish engineers admit that the terrain is way too difficult. As far as I know, the plan is to start from the Kars line and build a track from there to the currently disused line in Natchikhevan (Azerbaijan exclave) that would be re-gauged and from there connecting to the Iranian network at Jolfa.

But I also don't get the point of re-gauging the line between Zahedan and Quetta. This line would be to link the Indian subcontinent to Europe, so a gauge change would be needed somewhere anyway. So why not leave it where it is now? Unless of course the idea behind is to link China with Europe. So we're back again to this mythical project of a railway line along the Karakorum Highway ?

 

[181]

To continue the tangent for a bit:

metre-gauge later on, as a sop (not affecting the mother country) to the considerable and vociferous "metrication" lobby which there was at the time in Britain

I imagine that metre gauge lines were built in India for cost reasons, not because of any metric lobby.

Just -- 150-odd years ago: in the majority British view, "metric stuff is for Continentals; Imperial measures are our thing". At that time, the 3ft. 6in. (1067mm) gauge was taking off in many parts of the world, including much of the British Empire (Australia, New Zealand, southern Africa); what possessed the Brits to choose for Indian low-cost secondary main lines, metre gauge rather than the closely equivalent 3ft. 6in.?

According to 'The Guinness Railway Book' (Guinness Publishing, 1989) by John Marshall, '...the British Government agreed to a gauge of 3 ft 3 in (990 mm), but as a commission was then considering the introduction of the metric system in India the gauge was fixed at 1 metre...'. I don't know whether this is established fact or just a secondary source repeating a myth, but Mr. Marshall appears to have been a respected railway historian (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Marshall_(railway_historian)), and there were propsals for metrication in 19th-century Britain (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metrication_in_the_United_Kingdom#1799–1962), so it's not implausible.

 

[Sir Felix Pole]

As a follow on, British railways in East Africa were also built as metre gauge because of the ready availability of Indian engineers, workers and equipment. It also made the proposed Cape to Cairo railway even more problematic, with 3ft 6in gauge in South Africa and Sudan and standard gauge in Egypt.

 

[Calthrop]

As a follow on, British railways in East Africa were also built as metre gauge because of the ready availability of Indian engineers, workers and equipment.

And, a "by the same token" minor and short-lived oddity: the Aden Railway -- Aden city to El Khudad, 46 km. Inaugurated 1916 as a military line, for World War I needs (it is reckoned, using material requisitioned from railways in India); ran public passenger and freight services from 1922 until closure in 1929.

 

[jopsuk]

the broad-gauge Quetta -- Taftan -- Zahedan line; would it not be simpler and cheaper to upgrade the track on this line -- maybe to make it mixed broad and standard gauge

Perhaps (from a cursory look at terrain relief maps) the engineers involved with the proposal believe they can build a more direct track route in places?

 

[stuu]

Regatding Van Lake : I don’t believe there are still plans to build a track around the lake. Turkish engineers admit that the terrain is way too difficult. As far as I know, the plan is to start from the Kars line and build a track from there to the currently disused line in Natchikhevan (Azerbaijan exclave) that would be re-gauged and from there connecting to the Iranian network at Jolfa.

But I also don't get the point of re-gauging the line between Zahedan and Quetta. This line would be to link the Indian subcontinent to Europe, so a gauge change would be needed somewhere anyway. So why not leave it where it is now? Unless of course the idea behind is to link China with Europe. So we're back again to this mythical project of a railway line along the Karakorum Highway ?

Looking at Google Maps/Streetview, that seems a bit unlikely. It's well over twice the distance between the railway to Kars and Azerbaijan, through landscape that looks in places far more mountainous than around Lake Van. The route the main road takes to the south of Lake Van looks doable for a railway, with a bit of tunnelling. The new high speed lines built in Turkey in recent years go through more challenging landscape, especially the Ankara-Sivas line

I would guess that if they want to link with Azerbaijan it is for political reasons rather than engineering

 

[Maybach]

I must admit that when I created this thread I didn't expect it to generate anywhere near the level of interest that it has - even if not all the replies are strictly on topic! If anyone's interested, the current (February 2022) issue of CONTINENTAL MODELLER magazine includes a wonderful article on the (now defunct) narrow gauge lines of Pakistan, which is accompanied by some stunning photographs. You'll have to be quick if you want to pick up a copy though as the March 2022 issue is published towards the end of next week.

 

[Calthrop]

Those Pakistan 2ft. 6in. gauge lines -- Zhob Valley, Kohat -- Thal, and Bannu -- certainly look to have been delectable: they enjoyed ample coverage in Continental Railway Journal and World Steam, when those periodicals were going concerns. I never saw them, alas -- in fact never visited Pakistan at all.

 

[Maybach]

Those Pakistan 2ft. 6in. gauge lines -- Zhob Valley, Kohat -- Thal, and Bannu -- certainly look to have been delectable: they enjoyed ample coverage in Continental Railway Journal and World Steam, when those periodicals were going concerns. I never saw them, alas -- in fact never visited Pakistan at all.

I hadn't realised what a beautiful country Pakistan is, particularly once you get up into the mountains. It strikes me as a potentially great tourist destination, although I assume there are still security concerns for Western travellers in the border areas with Afghanistan.