Pakistan Railways will lay a new 480-kilometre track between Karachi and Rohri at a cost of $2.5 billion. Railways Minister Hanif Abbasi told the National Assembly on Thursday that the project is the first phase of the Main Line-1 (ML-1) upgrade and is meant to make travel safer and cut accidents.
Civil work on the first phase is likely to begin in January 2027, according to the minister, with railway officials speeding up market consultations, pre-bid preparations and other steps to meet the timeline set by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
The Karachi-Rohri and Rohri-Multan sections are among the most accident-prone stretches of the network, where ageing tracks lead to frequent derailments and costly repairs. That is why the Karachi-Rohri section was chosen to launch ML-1.
Abbasi told the house that trains derailed 349 times between January 2022 and September 2026, with faulty track the leading cause. Staff errors accounted for 95 derailments and rolling-stock defects for 64, he said, adding that investigations into 331 incidents had been completed while 120 cases were still pending.
ML-1, which runs from Karachi to Peshawar, is the backbone of Pakistan's railway system, and the long-delayed project's first phase now offers fresh hope for both passengers and freight.