ML-1:跨越百年 打造路網(wǎng)新時(shí)代

彭納

8月，已經(jīng)進(jìn)入雨季的巴基斯坦被一種濕熱裹挾著，凌空高照的烈日肆無(wú)忌憚地炙烤著每一寸土地，拉合爾市上百年的火車站里，斑駁屋頂上的吊扇有氣無(wú)力地打轉(zhuǎn)，卻并未給往來(lái)的人們帶來(lái)一絲涼意。遠(yuǎn)方隱隱傳來(lái)汽笛聲，一輛綠皮火車帶著陣熱浪和車尾的黃沙緩緩?fù)？吭诹苏九_(tái)。頃刻間，人流從車廂涌出，叫嚷聲、催促聲、轟鳴聲為這座原本就熱鬧的車站又增添了一重喧囂。

“線路建成以后，既有的平交道口將全部封閉，現(xiàn)有的行包通道以后不能用了，需不需要新建一個(gè)？”“從圖紙來(lái)看，現(xiàn)在盡頭線是用于停放火車的地方，以后這里依舊停放火車還是需要修改，巴方有考量過嗎？”站臺(tái)的喧囂被隔絕在了火車站不大的VIP貴賓室外，這里一場(chǎng)關(guān)于站臺(tái)及鐵路沿線ML-1線升級(jí)改造地討論，讓室內(nèi)的熱烈與車站的喧囂呼應(yīng)起來(lái)。那些行色匆匆的人們還不知道，他們乘坐的這條上百年歷史的鐵路即將更新?lián)Q代，在不久的未來(lái)，他們將進(jìn)入鐵路“高速時(shí)代”。

在巴基斯坦鐵路分布示意圖上，由南端城市卡拉奇開往北部城市白沙瓦的名為ML-1線的鐵路線占據(jù)了示意圖最明顯的位置，這條總長(zhǎng)1780多公里的鐵路穿越了巴基斯坦四大省中的三個(gè)，沿線途經(jīng)海德拉巴、木爾坦、拉合爾、伊斯蘭堡等巴基斯坦經(jīng)濟(jì)最為發(fā)達(dá)的城市?？梢哉f(shuō)，ML-1線是巴基斯坦鐵路南北運(yùn)輸?shù)闹魍ǖ?，承?dān)了巴國(guó)通過卡拉奇港進(jìn)出口貨物運(yùn)輸以及客流互通的任務(wù)。然而，這條線路在今天頗顯疲態(tài)，究其原因，要追溯這趟列車開過的百年發(fā)展史。

ML-1線的建設(shè)運(yùn)輸歷史，與整個(gè)巴基斯坦鐵路的建設(shè)史休戚相關(guān)。1861年5月13日，巴基斯坦國(guó)內(nèi)第一條從卡拉奇開往戈德里的鐵路線通車運(yùn)行，這便是ML-1線的前身。從始建之初到20世紀(jì)80年代，以ML-1線為代表的巴基斯坦鐵路運(yùn)輸占據(jù)著陸路運(yùn)輸?shù)闹匾恢谩?/p>

從卡拉奇到白沙瓦，往來(lái)的列車在ML-1線奔波了上百年，在這百年里，由于體制、資金和管理等原因，鐵路缺乏有效的養(yǎng)護(hù)維修，雖然不間斷地修修補(bǔ)補(bǔ)，但依舊無(wú)力阻止其老化的命運(yùn)。隨著運(yùn)力和速度的不斷下降，再加上公路網(wǎng)絡(luò)、航空通道的發(fā)展，整個(gè)鐵路運(yùn)輸?shù)呢涍\(yùn)量在1999年跌至谷底。數(shù)據(jù)顯示，1999年，巴鐵路客運(yùn)量不到客運(yùn)總量的10%，貨運(yùn)量?jī)H占貨運(yùn)總量（遠(yuǎn)洋運(yùn)輸除外）的3%。8月4日，PIU（巴基斯坦ML-1線項(xiàng)目執(zhí)行小組）運(yùn)輸專家哈馬丹帶領(lǐng)我們參觀拉合爾火車站時(shí)給出了一組數(shù)據(jù)，作為巴第二大城市，拉合爾車站每天的客運(yùn)量在1.4萬(wàn)-1.5萬(wàn)，對(duì)比全國(guó)2億的人口總量以及密度，鐵路運(yùn)輸?shù)膬?yōu)勢(shì)沒能有效釋放。

“如今，ML-1線的平均運(yùn)營(yíng)速度只能達(dá)到30-40公里/小時(shí)，從白沙瓦到卡拉奇全程需要花費(fèi)30多個(gè)小時(shí)?！辈稍L中，PIU組長(zhǎng)巴適哈特指出，時(shí)間就是核心競(jìng)爭(zhēng)力，要發(fā)展經(jīng)濟(jì)，必須解決ML-1線乃至整個(gè)鐵路網(wǎng)的提速升級(jí)。如何破解這樣的鐵路困局？帶著疑問，我們走進(jìn)了中國(guó)中鐵二院巴基斯坦既有鐵路ML-1線升級(jí)改造工程項(xiàng)目指揮部的駐地。

駐地位于拉合爾市一處僻靜的小路，兩層的小樓，是這個(gè)平均年齡只有30多歲的設(shè)計(jì)團(tuán)隊(duì)生活及工作的地方。出于安?？紤]，成員平日里是不允許單獨(dú)外出的，他們離開指揮部最常去的地方便是巴業(yè)主方的辦公室以及項(xiàng)目現(xiàn)場(chǎng)，在這樣的環(huán)境中，他們一待便是近三年。

“ML-1線屬于中巴經(jīng)濟(jì)走廊鐵路規(guī)劃項(xiàng)目的一部分，整個(gè)鐵路規(guī)劃項(xiàng)目是從中國(guó)新疆喀什一路向南到巴基斯坦的卡拉奇，全長(zhǎng)大約有2900公里，其中1150公里是新建部分，剩下的都是在既有鐵路的基礎(chǔ)上進(jìn)行升級(jí)改造。ML-1線升級(jí)改造是巴基斯坦鐵路建設(shè)史上最大的鐵路項(xiàng)目，是中國(guó)鐵路‘走出去’歷史上由外方出資委托我國(guó)咨詢?cè)O(shè)計(jì)的最長(zhǎng)鐵路項(xiàng)目?！?0后站場(chǎng)專業(yè)工程師孫中陽(yáng)向記者介紹了該項(xiàng)目的背景。

在中巴經(jīng)濟(jì)走廊鐵路規(guī)劃項(xiàng)目中，ML-1線就屬于既有鐵路改造部分。改造將分為兩期，其中1期有6個(gè)子項(xiàng)目，2期將有8個(gè)子項(xiàng)目。兩期項(xiàng)目的工期預(yù)計(jì)分別為5年，全線提速升級(jí)改造完成大約需要10年。

在團(tuán)隊(duì)的踏勘中，ML-1線暴露出的問題讓設(shè)計(jì)團(tuán)隊(duì)驚愕。雖然在國(guó)內(nèi)已經(jīng)對(duì)線路情況有所了解，但當(dāng)孫中陽(yáng)實(shí)地走進(jìn)ML-1線時(shí)，實(shí)際的情況卻比他想的更糟一些?！斑@條線路能開行上百年，真的已經(jīng)很不容易了?！庇械穆范我呀?jīng)被埋在土里，百年的運(yùn)行讓路基病害非常嚴(yán)重，再加上鐵路養(yǎng)護(hù)維修等沒有跟上，這些問題都將是整個(gè)升級(jí)改造的重中之重。

從孫中陽(yáng)的口中我們得知，ML-1線的升級(jí)改造將在軌道、路基、橋涵、站場(chǎng)、通信、信號(hào)及運(yùn)營(yíng)維護(hù)等方面下大力氣，經(jīng)過改造，將形成時(shí)速為160公里/小時(shí)或120公里/小時(shí)的雙線通道?！吧?jí)以后的ML-1線，將實(shí)現(xiàn)朝發(fā)夕至?！毙熊囆实奶岣哌€不能滿足鐵路的發(fā)展，對(duì)于線路的運(yùn)營(yíng)維護(hù)，設(shè)計(jì)團(tuán)隊(duì)還將專門編制一本維護(hù)手冊(cè)。由于ML-1線的所有路段在未來(lái)都將成為雙線，線路通過能力將得到進(jìn)一步提升。因此，沿途許多的車站將不再保留。當(dāng)記者問起拉合爾市那座百年車站是否會(huì)保留時(shí)，答案在站臺(tái)得到了揭曉。

站在這座帶有濃重英式風(fēng)格的火車站，嘈雜中，孫中陽(yáng)將圖紙拿出來(lái)，為記者解答了心中的疑問，這座站臺(tái)將被完全保留下來(lái)，除了加強(qiáng)站臺(tái)的服務(wù)能力以外，這里的變化還將體現(xiàn)在通訊、電力的改造上，在現(xiàn)有站臺(tái)的一側(cè)還會(huì)有一些鐵路工人的住房、工作樓房等拔地而起，“其余部分，會(huì)完全保留現(xiàn)有的樣貌。”

在車站實(shí)地考察了半小時(shí)后，來(lái)不及擦去已經(jīng)流到下巴的汗水、換去已經(jīng)從淺藍(lán)暈濕變成深藍(lán)的工作服，工程師們便迫切地向巴方業(yè)主、運(yùn)輸專家哈馬丹提出了更多的疑問，這便出現(xiàn)了文章開頭車站VIP室里熱烈討論的場(chǎng)景。

有所留就有所不留，從火車站出來(lái)，我們的汽車一路穿越狹窄的街道、緩行的驢車、頭頂貨物的行人，在將這個(gè)典型的巴基斯坦小集市漸漸甩在身后以后，不一會(huì)兒就到達(dá)了拉維河大橋。泛黃的拉維爾河奔襲著遠(yuǎn)去，400多米的河道中，成群的水牛正懶懶地泡在水中，與拉維爾河遙相呼應(yīng)的大橋上，汽車、三輪車川流不息。不多時(shí)，一輛從白沙瓦南下的火車從銹跡斑斑的紅色大橋上緩緩駛過，火車一路鳴笛，提醒著在橋邊以及路邊的人們讓出鐵道。

“這座橋在升級(jí)改造后會(huì)停用，在旁邊不遠(yuǎn)處的河面上，將會(huì)建起一座全新的鋼結(jié)構(gòu)雙線橋?！敝钢拥?，孫中陽(yáng)解釋道。

這樣的去留在ML-1線的升級(jí)改造中數(shù)不勝數(shù)，其目的只為將線路的運(yùn)行效率提至最佳。“ML-1線經(jīng)過的都是巴基斯坦經(jīng)濟(jì)最發(fā)達(dá)的城市，升級(jí)改造后，對(duì)于沿線經(jīng)濟(jì)的帶動(dòng)作用不言而喻。但鐵路運(yùn)輸能力的提升不能只依靠一條線路，需要完成的是一個(gè)鐵路網(wǎng)絡(luò)的支撐?！睂O中陽(yáng)一針見血地指出了ML-1線升級(jí)改造后將面臨的外部環(huán)境問題，而對(duì)于這個(gè)問題，在PIU的辦公室我們找到了答案。

在巴適哈特的電腦上有一張巴基斯坦鐵路網(wǎng)未來(lái)規(guī)劃的設(shè)計(jì)圖，從圖紙上看，與ML-1線相輔相成的還有兩條線，分別是ML-2線、ML-3線，ML-2線是從戈德里至阿塔克 ，ML-3線則是駛出巴國(guó)門的國(guó)際線路?！爱?dāng)這兩條線路修建完成以后，將與ML-1線形成很好的互補(bǔ)，這對(duì)整個(gè)巴基斯坦經(jīng)濟(jì)的發(fā)展都將起到促進(jìn)作用。”對(duì)于未來(lái)，巴適哈特充滿信心。

這樣的信心不無(wú)道理，巴政府在《2025遠(yuǎn)景規(guī)劃》中確立了鐵路網(wǎng)發(fā)展的三個(gè)方向，第一將逐步升級(jí)現(xiàn)有軌道和信號(hào)系統(tǒng)；第二將新建部分路段，增加復(fù)線里程；第三將建設(shè)連接瓜達(dá)爾地區(qū)的鐵路；最后將修建和改進(jìn)連接鄰國(guó)的鐵路。

“現(xiàn)階段的巴基斯坦鐵路運(yùn)輸狀況跟我們國(guó)家早期非常像。經(jīng)歷著類似我國(guó)鐵路上個(gè)世紀(jì)七八十年代末面臨提速、改頭換面的新時(shí)期?！表?xiàng)目2期海德拉巴至木爾坦（不含納瓦布沙阿-羅赫里段）的負(fù)責(zé)人梁玉告訴記者，中國(guó)花了十年時(shí)間在火車的提速升級(jí)上，終于在2007年進(jìn)入高鐵時(shí)代，而這十年的所有經(jīng)驗(yàn)，如今都將運(yùn)用到巴基斯坦鐵路的升級(jí)改造之中?！傲硗?，你知道為什么ML-1線的時(shí)速會(huì)定在160公里嗎？”拋出這個(gè)問題后，梁玉立即解釋道，160公里/小時(shí)是火車從普速到高速的一道坎，邁過這道坎，就掌握了一套準(zhǔn)高鐵的技術(shù)。ML-1線運(yùn)行以后，將為世界人口第六大國(guó)巴基斯坦發(fā)展高鐵打下技術(shù)基礎(chǔ)。

中巴經(jīng)濟(jì)走廊建設(shè)一落地，基礎(chǔ)設(shè)施的建設(shè)就被放在了首位，幾年間，巴國(guó)道路建設(shè)的迅猛發(fā)展除了體現(xiàn)在鐵路上，在航空和公路上也表現(xiàn)亮眼。

航空方面，目前，巴基斯坦共有9個(gè)國(guó)際機(jī)場(chǎng)和27個(gè)國(guó)內(nèi)機(jī)場(chǎng)，開辟了30多條國(guó)際航線。未來(lái)，已經(jīng)落地的瓜達(dá)爾港新機(jī)場(chǎng)項(xiàng)目即將開工建設(shè)，國(guó)際航線的數(shù)量也將不斷增加。

從巴公路局制定的“十年投資規(guī)劃”來(lái)看，未來(lái)十年巴國(guó)將重點(diǎn)建設(shè)南北向公路網(wǎng)絡(luò)、加快實(shí)施連接瓜達(dá)爾港道路以及KKH升級(jí)改造工程，具體項(xiàng)目包括新建和改擴(kuò)建8條高速公路、4條國(guó)道。在亞行的支持下，還將修復(fù)或擴(kuò)建8條國(guó)道的部分路段……

如今，行駛在已經(jīng)完成升級(jí)改造的喀喇昆侖公路上，往來(lái)不斷的卡車裝載著中巴兩國(guó)各地的貨物駛向目的地，公路將巴基斯坦路網(wǎng)絡(luò)擴(kuò)展到中國(guó)邊境，打開了巴國(guó)與中國(guó)這個(gè)巨大商業(yè)市場(chǎng)的連接。從航拍圖看，公路從中國(guó)新疆喀什啟程，盤亙整個(gè)喀喇昆侖山脈，向著巴基斯坦腹地不斷延伸，延伸……

It’s August when Pakistan had already entered into the rainy season and became increasingly sticky. The sun glared down with merciless intensity on every inch of the ground. In the century-old train station of Lahore， the ceiling fan on the mottled roof was spinning feebly but it didn’t bring a touch of coolness to the people coming and going. There were faint train whistles from the distance as a green train slowly docked at the platform， leaving heat waves and dusty sand behind. In an instant as the crowds streamed out of the carriages， there arose another great clamour from the already busy station together with the cries， urging voice and roars.

“After the completion of the line， all the existing level crossings will be closed， and the baggagededicated galleries will be no longer usable in the future. Is it necessary to build a new baggagededicated gallery？” “According to the drawing， the end line is now a place used to park the train. In the future， do we need to make some modification or just leave it as it is？ Has the Pakistani side taken that into consideration？ ” The small VIP room of the railway station kept off the noise from the platform. There was a discussion on the upgrading of the platform and the ML-1 line along the railway line. Such a heated discussion was echoed by the noise of the station. Those hurrying tos-and-fros were still unaware that the century-old railways they were riding were about to be renewed， and in the near future they would enter the railway “high-speed era”.

On the map of Pakistan’s railway distribution， the railway line named ML-1 from the southern city of Karachi to the northern city of Peshawar occupies the most obvious position. With a total length of more than 1，780 kilometers， the railway crosses three of the four major provinces of Pakistan and passes through the most economically developed cities in Pakistan， such as Hyderabad， Multan， Lahore and Islamabad. It can be said that the ML-1 line is the main channel for the north-south transportation of the Pakistani railway， which undertakes the import and export of goods and passenger flow of Pakistan through the port of Karachi. However， the reason why the line is so overburdened today can be traced to the history of the 100-year development of this line.

The construction and transportation history of the ML-1 line is closely related to the construction history of the entire Pakistan railway. On May 13， 1861， the first railway line from Karachi to Kotri was opened to traffic in Pakistan， which was the predecessor of the ML-1 line. Since it was built， Pakistan’s railway transportation represented by the ML-1 line had dominated the land transportation until the 1980s.

Trains from Karachi to Peshawar have been running on the ML-1 line for the past 100 years， during which there has been a lack of effective maintenance and repair due to institutional， financial and management reasons. Thus continuous tinkering wasn’t enough to prevent it from aging. With the continuous decline of capacity and speed， combined with the development of road networks and airways， the freight volume of the whole railway transportation fell to the bottom in 1999. According to the data， in 1999， the passenger volume of the railway in Pakistan made up less than 10% of the total passenger volume， and the freight volume made up only 3% of the total freight volume （excluding ocean transport）. Back on August 4， Hamdan， a transport expert from PIU （Pakistan ML-1 Line Project Implementation Team）， led us to visit Lahore Railway Station and gave a set of data， which showed that the advantages of railway transportation had not been brought into full play， judging from the comparison of the number of passengers per day （14，000-15，000） at the station of Lahore， the second largest city in Pakistan， and the total population and density of the country （200 million）.

“Today， the average operating speed of the ML-1 line can only reach 30-40 km/h， which means it takes more than 30 hours for a journey from Peshawar to Karachi.” In the interview， Basharat， the leader of PIU pointed out that time was the core competitiveness. To develop the economy， it is a must-to-do to solve the problem of speeding-up and upgrading of the ML-1 line and even the entire railway network. How could we deal with such a railway dilemma？ With questions， we walked into the resident of the headquarters of China Railway Second Academy Engineering Group Co.， Ltd， which was in charge of the upgrading project for ML-1 line， one of the existing railways in Pakistan.

The resident is located on a secluded path in Lahore. The two-story building is the place where the design team lives and works with an average age of just over 30. Due to security concerns， members are not allowed to go out alone on weekdays. The most frequent place for them to leave the headquarters is the office of the owners and the project site. In such an environment， they have stayed for nearly three years.

“The ML-1 line is part of the railway planning project of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. In the project， the railway is designed to be built from Kashgar， in Xinjiang， China all the way south to Karachi in Pakistan. The total length of the railway is about 2，900km， of which 1，150km are newly built and the rest are upgraded on the basis of existing railways. The upgrading of the ML-1 line is the largest railway project in the history of Pakistan’s railway construction， and the longest railway project commissioned by the foreign party to entrust China’s consultation and design in the history of ‘China Railway Going Global’，” Sun Zhongyang， a field professional engineer born after the eighties， introduced the background of the project to the reporter.

In the railway planning project of the ChinaPakistan Economic Corridor， the ML-1 line is part of the existing railway reconstruction. The transformation will be divided into two phases， with 6 sub-projects in Phase 1 and 8 sub-projects in Phase 2. The construction period of the two projects is expected to be both 5 years， and it will take about 10 years to complete the speeding up and upgrading transformation of the line.

During the team’s exploration， the problems exposed in the ML-1 line also made the design team stunned. Although Sun Zhongyang already knew something about the route at home， the on-the-spot investigation of the ML-1 line made him realize that the actual situation was worse than he thought. “It is really not easy for this line to operate for a hundred years.” Some road sections have been buried in the soil. The roadbed has been too over-strained for being in operation for a hundred years， compounded by a lack of maintenance and repair of the railway. These problems will be the top priority of the whole upgrading and reconstruction.

From Sun Zhongyang’s description， we know that great efforts will be made for the the upgrading and reconstruction of ML-1 line in track， roadbed， bridge and culvert， station yard， communication，signal， operation and maintenance， etc. After the transformation， a double-track channel will be formed with a speed of 160 km/h or 120 km/h. “It will be realized to start in the morning and arrive in the evening after the upgrading of ML-1 line.” The improvement of operating efficiency isn’t enough to meet the development of the railway. A maintenance manual will also be specially prepared by the design team for the operation and maintenance of the line. As all sections of the ML-1 line will become double tracks in the future， the capacity of the line will be further improved. Therefore， many stations along the way will not be retained. When the reporter asked if the 100-year-old station in Lahore would be retained， the answer was revealed on the platform.

Entering this railway station with a strong British style， Sun Zhongyang took out the drawings and answered the questions for the reporter amid the noise. This platform will be completely preserved. In addition to strengthening the service capabilities of the platform， the changes here will also be reflected in the transformation of communications and power. On the side of the existing platform， some buildings will be built for the railway workers to live and work，“And we will keep the rest as it is”.

After half an hour’s field visit at the station， although there’s not even time to wipe off the sweat that had flowed to the chin， and to replace the working clothes that had changed from light blue to dark blue， the engineers urgently raised more questions to Hamdan， the Pakistani owner and transportation expert， which led to the scene of heated discussion in the VIP room of the station at the beginning of the article.

Some would be kept while the rest would be transformed. Leaving the train station， we drove through the narrow streets and passed the donkey carts and the people carrying goods on their heads， leaving the typical small Pakistani market behind and soon arriving at the Ravel River Bridge. The yellowing Laver River ran farther away. In the 400-meter-long river course， herds of buffaloes were lazy in the water， while there was a continuous flow of cars and tricycles on the Ravi River Bridge. Before long， a train coming down from Peshawar was moving slowly along the rusted red bridge， whistling to warn people at the side of the bridge and the road to give way.

“The bridge will be decommissioned after upgrading and a new steel structure double-line bridge will be built over the river nearby.” Sun Zhongyang explained while pointing at the river.

Such problems of whether to keep it or not were numerous in the upgrading and transformation of ML-1 line， which were only meant to improve the operation efficiency of the line. “The ML-1 line passes through the most developed cities in Pakistan. After upgrading， it will play an obvious role in driving the economy along the route. However， the improvement of railway transportation capacity cannot rely solely on one line. What needs to be completed is the support of a railway network.” Sun Zhongyang pointed out the external environment problems that the ML-1 line would face after upgrading， and we found the answer to this problem in the PIU office.

There was a design drawing of the future plan of Pakistan’s railway network on the computer of Basharat. According to the drawing， there were two other lines that were complementary to the ML-1 line， namely the ML-2 line from Kotri to Attock and the ML-3 line， which was the international route out of Pakistan. “After these two lines are completed， they will complement the ML-1 line very well， which will promote the development of the entire Pakistani economy.” Mr Basharat was confident about the future.

Such confidence was not unreasonable. The Pakistani government has established three directions for the development of the railway network in the 2025 Vision Plan. First， the existing track and signal system will be upgraded gradually； second， new sections will be built to increase the double-track mileage； third， the railway to connect the Gwadar region will be built； finally， the railways to connect the neighboring countries will be built and improved.

“The current railway transport situation in Pakistan is very similar to that of our country. We are going through a new period similar to China’s railway in the late 1970s and 1980s， when the railway faced a new period of speeding up and transformation.” Liang Yu， the person in charge of the project Phase 2， from Hyderabad to Multan（excluding Nauab Shah-Rohri section）， told reporters that it took China ten years to upgrade the speed of the train and finally entered the high-speed rail era in 2007. All the experience of this decade will now be applied to the upgrading of Pakistan’s railways. “By the way， do you know why the speed of the ML-1 line is set at 160 km/h？” After asking this question， Liang Yu immediately explained that 160 km/h was a hurdle for the train to go from general speed to high speed. Passing this hurdle meant the mastery of a set of quasi-high-speed rail technology. The operation of the ML-1 line would lay a technological foundation for the development of high-speed rail in Pakistan， the world’s sixth most populous country.

As soon as the construction of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor was completed， the construction of infrastructure was put in the first place. In a few years， the rapid development of road construction in Pakistan was reflected not only in the railway， but also in the aviation and highway.

In terms of aviation， Pakistan currently has 9 international airports and 27 domestic airports， with more than 30 international routes. In the future， the new airport project of Gwadar Port， which has already been conformed， will be started and the number of international routes will continue to increase.

According to the “ten-year investment plan”formulated by the Highway Bureau of Pakistan， in the next ten years Pakistan will focus on the construction of a north-south highway network， and accelerate the implementation of the road connecting Gwadar Port and KKH upgrading project in the next decade， including the construction， reconstruction and expansion of 8 expressways and 4 national highways. With the support of Asian Development Bank， some sections of the 8 national highways will be repaired or expanded...

Nowadays， an endless stream of trucks carry goods from all over Pakistan and China to their destinations on the upgraded Karakoram Highway， which extends Pakistan’s road network to the Chinese border and opens up Pakistan’s vast commercial market to China. From the perspective of aerial photos， the road starts from Kashgar in Xinjiang， China， and stretches across the entire Karakoram mountains， extending to the hinterland of Pakistan.