The Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO), a regional grouping with 10 member states, has been working on what has been named the “Gul Express” since 2008. But it’s not exactly an express with a speed of 15 miles an hour still a goal to be achieved.
Early efforts at driving the train along the Islamabad-Tehran-Istanbul route faced major obstacles, but senior railway officers said trains have been leaving monthly from both Islamabad and Istanbul since last August.
A team lead by Turkish Professor Guven Sak has been monitoring progress since then and seeking ways to overcome challenges to sustaining a schedule.
Authorities last week disclosed some of the problems facing the ECO train.
“Stand storms overwhelm the Quetta-Taftan and Taftan-Zahedan sections [in Pakistani and Iranian Baluchestan]. The newly-laid 300-kilometer (185-mile) track between Zahedan and Kerman has yet to be upgraded to the required standard. There are operational problems at Van Lake in Turkey where the cargo is unloaded and ferried across the lake,” said the Paksitani railway official.
Why these problems were not tackled before the rail line was put into operation was not explained.
Nevertheless, with the progress that has been made, officials in Pakistan, Iran and Turkey decided at a recent meeting that the train could travel from Islamabad to Istanbul via Tehran in 11 days, a rate averaging all of 15 miles an hour. Soon, the train will run twice a month in each direction and, if successful, there will be a conversation about making the trains weekly.
The meeting at the Ministry of Finance in Islamabad also included discussion of running a passenger train on the route.