Train through Lowari Tunnel opposed

DAWN

By Zar Alam Khan
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chitral chapter leader Fardad Ali Shah has asked the federal government to reconsider laying railway track in the recently-dug Lowari Tunnel.
“The tunnel having the total length of 8.5 kilometres has become a reality for the Chitralis and a milestone in the history of Chitral. The important point now is to rethink as to whether we really need a railway track through the tunnel when all kinds of vehicles are already capable of driving through it,” he said while talking to Dawn.
The NHA and the Korean Sambu Construction Company vehicles are plying comfortably through the tunnel from one end to the other which proves the tunnel is now fit to take in vehicles, he added.
In the first phase of the project, excavation work was completed on January 14, while in the second phase, railway track will be laid through the tunnel at an estimated cost of Rs5 billion.
Mr Shah said even if we overlooked its whooping initial cost, railway service through the tunnel is an avoidable external factor and additional liability with all its associated problems like operating cost, maintenance, mismanagement, breakdowns, etc., besides it will be causing an unnecessary wastage of time in loading/unloading of vehicles on the train at both the ends. Involving a railway system should best be avoided when the tunnel without it is capable of doing the needful, he said.
There are much longer, equally narrow, tunnels in Europe including the 1980-constructed Gothard Tunnel in the Swiss Alps which is 16.3 kilometres long and is a single-lane road tunnel.
In case of the Lowari Tunnel, at most a couple of additional ventilation ducts may be needed to be installed to be used as a regular road tunnel. Giving block timings for up/down traffic can regulate traffic through the tunnel. (The proposed railways system also is a one-way system).
What is more important is to judiciously use Rs5 billion saved by scrapping the railways system.
Mr Shah, a retired wing commander of PAF, said the saved amount could be used to construct a series of hydropower stations in Chitral and provide cheap electricity to the people to uplift their living conditions, protect forests and encourage small cottage industries requiring electricity.
Provision of affordable electricity is a need of the people, second only to the need for an all-weather road. By the grace of Allah, we achieved the all-weather road target, Shah said, adding that now, priority should be given to fulfilling our energy requirement.