On the directive of Minister for Railways Khawaja Saad Rafique, the train service would run between Lahore-Gujranwala, Lahore-Faisalabad, Lahore-Narowal-Sialkot and Lahore-Okara sections, an official source told APP.
After the completion of study on the routes, work on the projects will start. Pakistan Railways is also drawing an outline for transportation of 12 million ton coal for future power generation projects to be constructed at Jamshoro, Qadirabad, Sahiwal, Sundar and Faisalabad with the cooperation of China to overcome the energy crisis.
The Pakistan Railways will also provide coal transport vans for power generation plants to be set up by the private sector.
Under a plan to revive the department, the Railways is in dialogue with the Chinese government to upgrade ML-1 (main-line one) which connects Karachi via Rohri, Khanewal, Lahore, Lalamusa and Rawalpindi.
It is expected that PC-1 of the project would be completed till the end of the current year at the expense of China. After the restoration of ML-1, it will be possible to operate trains at 120 km/hour instead of a restricted speed limit.
A dry port is being planned at Havelian for holding containers with the cooperation of the Chinese government and about two million ton goods per year could be handled from Khunjrab to Havelian as a pilot project.