Engineer The World

‘Pak ISLAMABAD: Pakistan cannot have bullet trains, even though this was one of the ruling party’s election promises, Khawaja Saad Rafique told the National Assembly on Tuesday. “When we asked the Chinese about it, they laughed at us. We should consider the 160kmph train under CPEC as a bullet train. We can’t afford an actual bullet train, there’s no market for it,” the railway minister said. Admitting that their party had faced a lot of criticism over not launching the project, he said that the country didn’t have enough money to build one. “Even if we do, we don’t have such a big range of upper and middle class passengers who will buy tickets.” In an articulate speech on the floor of the house, Mr Rafique gave members a comprehensive overview of the performance of his department and insisted that he was doing as much as possible to clean up the department and turn it into a profit-making entity. Punjab, Sindh and Balochistan are not prepared to turn over railway land to...

Trump expresses willingness to solve 'fantastic' Pakistan's problems US president-elect Donald Trump said on Wednesday he is willing to play any role that Pakistan wants to find solutions to outstanding problems, reported  Radio Pakistan . Trump made these remarks in a telephone conversation with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. The premier had called Trump to felicitate him on his recent victory. The US president-elect also said it will be an honour for him to do so and he will personally do what is needed. During the telephone conversation, Trump also praised Nawaz and expressed his desire to meet the prime minister soon. Trump added that Pakistan is an amazing with tremendous opportunities and Pakistanis are some of the most intelligent people. The prime minister also invited the president-elect of the United States. Trump, in reply, said he would love to visit the country and meet its people. Following is the text of the conversation between PM Nawaz and T...

New railway tracks planned under CPEC: report The government has planned major installation and upgradation of railway tracks under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, state-run website  Radio Pakistan  has reported. Under the plan, new railway tracks will be laid from Gwadar to Quetta and Jacobabad via Besima. Five hundred and sixty kilometres of track will be laid from Bostan to Kotla Jam on Main Line-II via Zhob and Dera Islamil Khan, while 682km of track will be laid from Havelian to Khunjrab, the state-run broadcaster's website said. Upgradation of 1,872km of railway track from Karachi to Peshawar via Kotri, Multan, Lahore, and Rawalpindi (including Taxila-Havelian) – along with dualisation of track from Shahdara to Peshawar – will also be carried out. Some 1,254 kilometres of railway track from Kotri to Attock City via Dadu, Larkana, Jacobabad, DG Khan, Bhakkar, Kundian will also be upgraded. CPEC: background The CPEC is a 3,000-kilometer network of ro...

China launches direct rail, sea freight service between Kunming and Karachi China and Pakistan have launched a direct rail and sea freight service, with the first cargo train departing from Yunnan, an inland province in southwest China, the official Xinhua news agency reported. A cargo train loaded with 500 tonnes of commodities left Kunming, capital of Yunnan, for port city of Guangzhou from where the cargo will be loaded on ships and transported to Karachi, marking the opening of the new route. "The route helps locals businesses connect with the world market," a representative from the New Silk Road Yunnan Limited said. The new service is said to reduce the transport cost by over 50 per cent. The new rail, sea freight service will cut logistics cost, including that of transport, by 50 per cent compared to past services, the news agency reported. The service is a part of China's Maritime Silk Road initiative of which the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor proje...

Trump team takes issue with Pakistani version of phone talk WASHINGTON: The Trump transition team has issued its own version of the  Sharif-Trump telephone call , saying that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and US president-elect Donald Trump did have a ‘productive conversation’ on Wednesday, but it lacked the “flowery language” included in the Pakistani version of this talk. “President-elect Trump and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif spoke … had a productive conversation about how the United States and  Pakistan  will have a strong working relationship in the future,” said the Trump transition team in a rare readout of his conversation with a foreign leader. “President-elect Trump also noted that he is looking forward to a lasting and strong personal relationship with Prime Minister Sharif,” the statement added. An unidentified adviser to the Trump team said the Pakistani readout of the talk had “committed the president-elect to more than what he meant”. Other members...

Are Mahira's scenes in Raees getting axed?   One report states that Mahira is not being flown back for the shoot of a song and opening sequence   Fawad Khan-starrer  Ae Dil Hai Mushkil  and  Dear Zindagi  (that featured Ali Zafar in a small role) were both released without major cuts to the Pakistani actors' roles, but will Mahira Khan enjoy the same luck in  Raees ? According to  one report in Mumbai Mirror , that might not be the case. The report cites a source close to the film's development as saying that one song and an introduction scene remained to be shot and Mahira Khan is not being flown back for them. Also read:  Farah Khan doesn't think Bollywood needs Pakistani actors Mahira has a small role as the wife of Shah Rukh Khan's character, a bootlegger named Raees. But her presence was enough for MNS to  threaten  consequences to the producer. The source said, “Mahira is ...

Pakistan Embassy Forum launched in Washington DC The Embassy of Pakistan in Washington DC has launched a major public diplomacy initiative named “Pakistan Embassy Forum”. The inaugural session of the Forum was hosted by the Embassy today that deliberated upon the Energy Situation in Pakistan. The session was attended by participants from think tanks, academia, U.S. Government departments, World Bank, IMF, private sector energy companies and notables of Pakistani-American diaspora, the Pakistan Embassy said on Friday. Mr. Ziad Alahdad, leading energy expert and the former Director of World Bank and Mr. Shahid Javed Burki, the eminent economist, who is currently associated with Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington DC, led the discussion. Mr. ZiadAlahdad presented a paper highlighting various dimensions of Pakistan’s energy sector and its challenges. In his opening remarks Ambassador of Pakistan to the United States, Jalil Abbas Jilani described the objective of the establishm...