Overview
- Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif pressed for an early groundbreaking of the 1,733 km Main Line‑1 railway during a breakfast meeting with ADB Vice President Yingming Yang on Friday, September 4, 2026.
- The ADB welcomed progress on ML‑1 and committed to help form a joint working group to support reforms inside Pakistan Railways and technical project readiness under the new CPS 2026–2030.
- Islamabad is pursuing procedural work on a 480 km elevated Karachi–Rohri first phase estimated at about Rs450 billion and is seeking financing from Chinese banks and other international lenders.
- The government is targeting a restart of physical construction in early 2027 but still faces major hurdles in securing full funding, sourcing engineering capacity, and clearing bureaucratic approvals.
- Officials framed the ML‑1 push as part of broader fiscal and governance reforms that they say have improved investor confidence and could lower freight costs, speed travel, and boost regional trade if implementation succeeds.