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The government of Pakistan has recently initiated “Islamabad-Tehran-Istanbul” freight train service on Tuesday, 21th December 2021 at Margalla railway station. Citing the importance of the special commerce and trade event, the Ambassadors of all participating countries of the special freight train project Turkey, Iran, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan were present on the special occasion. Book Istanbul tour packages from Pakistan.
 
The freight train has started after 10-year hiatus, providing business cargo services having the potential to carry 80,000 tonnes maximum of goods. The freight train service is expected to make Pakistan Railways profitable again.
 

Promoting And Opening New Business Corridor:

The new freight train service will play important role as a gamer changer towards improving the livelihood of many people who are part of ECO membership states resulting in reduced costs of carrying out business activities and high economic efficiency.
 

Importance For Creating Business Opportunity:

The minister for Pakistan Railways Swati expressed the importance of the freight train service for providing new business opportunities for exporters and imports along with the hope of starting passenger service soon. Read Russia visa requirements from Pakistan.
He further expressed that the launch of the freight train service proves to be a very important milestone for Pakistan as relations between the neighbouring countries business-to-business contacts would improve further.
 

Strategic Trade Policy:

The advisor for Commerce, Textile and Industry minister Abdul Razak Dawood expressed that the launch of the business freight train would play a vital role in improving the region's connectivity and enhancing and promotion of business and economic activities among the region.
 

Business Gateway To Europe:

Present on the special occasion the Turkish Ambassador Mustafa Yurdakul expressed that believes the train should not stop at Istanbul but should reach Europe benefiting all the neighbouring countries to rebound from the current business situation.
 

ITI Freight Train Route:

The first freight train was launched from Islamabad port to Istanbul on 14th August 2009 as the first freight train from Istanbul port reached Islamabad port on 13th August 2010.
Eight freight trains have been so far dispatched from Pakistan to Turkey with the last freight train leaving Lahore on 5th November 2011. Turkey has so far sent six freight trains to Pakistan with the last train reaching on 9th December 2011.
 

ITI Freight Train Operation:

Senior Railway officials expressed that the freight train will be operational on regular basis starting from Tuesday every week carrying nine freight train wagons.
The freight train ITI currently has a joint agreement to start operations as agreed upon by Iran, Turkey and Pakistan. Running time from Istanbul (Drence-Kapikoy) and Iran (Zahidan-Tabraiz) will be for 90 hours each. The freight train will take 135.5 hours to reach Islamabad from Zahidan. How to get Turkey visa from Pakistan.
 

Saving Business Costs:

The freight train will become an example of business efficiency as it will take less than 12 days to complete a trip of 6,656 kilometres. The freight train provides capacity for 20 to 40 feet containers.
The freight train first cargo trip contained dates, pink salt and rice among 13 containers handled by Haroon Brothers and Maxtel Logistics as freight handlers. They expressed that the freight train saves 30 days time as compared to sea shipping.
 

What Is The Length Of Rail Route?

The total length of the rail route is calculated as 6500km which is divided into the following spans:
  • Iran: 2600 km
  • Turkey: 1950 km
  • Pakistan: 1990 km
  • ITI: A Way To Boost Trading
It is described that the railway line from Istanbul to Islamabad via Tehran is tremendously beneficial for all three countries. At first, the project aims to boost the economic cooperation among Pakistan, Iran, and Turkey. However, the economic cooperation will also boost up with other ECO member countries afterward.
Besides Pakistan, Iran, and Turkey the following countries will also be benefitted from the ITI project:
 
  • Afghanistan
  • Azerbaijan
  • Kazakhstan
  • Kyrgyzstan
  • Tajikistan
  • Turkmenistan
  • Uzbekistan
     

ITI Train Business Potential:

The ITI freight train offers immense potential for business people and neighbouring countries as it has to potential to provide $32million annual earning and more if the train service is connected to railway stations like Faisalabad, Rohri, Sialkot, Karachi and Lahore.
The freight train ITI was initially started as trial project under ECO (Economic Cooperation Organization but got suspended due to security concerns.
 
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