Closing a gap

At last the gap between Kerman and Zahedan is to be closed.

http://steelmillsoftheworld.com/news/ne ... ?slno=1222

There will then be continuous rail connection between Europe and Pakistan.

However, there will still be a break of gauge at the Iran-Pakistan frontier.

For some reason I had thought Pakistan had been connected to Europe via rail in the past, perhaps by a very circuitious route:
Trans Siberean to Chinese rail, to Myamar/Burma to India (and thence Pakistan). Not saying this route is still usable, but I thought it once existed.

Sir Ray wrote:For some reason I had thought Pakistan had been connected to Europe via rail in the past, perhaps by a very circuitious route:
Trans Sibirean to Chinese rail, to Myamar/Burma to India (and thence Pakistan). Not saying this route is still usable, but I thought it once existed.

No. South Asia is a rail island. There are no connections out. There wasn't even a link to Burma, formerly ruled by the British, and no connection from Burma to Thailand. The Japanese tried to build a connection (Bridge on the River Kwai).

It will be interesting to see how much through intermodal traffic this route gets . From south east asia containers could be shipped to a eastern indian port , then railed from there to Europe . However id hate to think of the paperwork required to get such a operation going through these countries .

David Benton wrote:It will be interesting to see how much through intermodal traffic this route gets . From south east asia containers could be shipped to a eastern indian port , then railed from there to Europe . However id hate to think of the paperwork required to get such a operation going through these countries .

It might make an alternative to the Trans-Siberean or sea travel. But quite possibly a lot of investment might be needed in the connecting routes, for example, the Pakistan line to the frontier would need rebuilding (this may already be in progress).