Array

KARACHI, Sept 1 (Reuters) Pakistan aims to build its first high-speed railway line at a cost of about $1 billion, and work on the project in Punjab province is expected to start next year, the country's railways minister said on Friday.

The service will run between the cities of Lahore and Rawalpindi in the eastern province of Punjab, said the minister, Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed.

''The 270-km (170-mile) long double-track project will take two years to complete and will cost a billion dollars,'' Ahmed told Reuters.

''We have already received $300 million from the Asian Development Bank for the project, which we want to inaugurate before the elections,'' he said.

Pakistan's next general elections are due late next year.

''We have invited international companies to participate in this project, and once completed, it will help us modernise our railways system,'' he said.

''Normally our passenger trains run at a maximum speed of 105 kph (65 mph), but the new train will have a top speed of 250 kph (155 mph),'' Ahmed said.

Aziz Ahmed, chief engineer of state-owned Pakistan Railways, said about 70 million people used the system of 11,515 km (7,000 miles) of track a year.

Pakistan has also awarded a contract to a German company to do a feasibility study for a 900-km (560-mile) rail link between Pakistan and China.

REUTERS DKS KN1830