Last relic of the Great Game disappears, bit by bit"¦.

pmaitra

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Last relic of the Great Game disappears, bit by bit"¦.

Pakistan government has announced on the eve of visit of US Vice President, Joe Biden, that it will not allow any Great Game in the region. In order to demonstrate its commitment to this stand, the government has announced to close, bit by bit, the last relic of the Great Game, namely Pakistan Railways.
While on the other side of the border, Indian railways expanded due to transportation of goods across the country, here in Pakistan another institution called National Logistic Cell (NLC) was setup for the transportation of goods– an institution that directly competed with Pakistan Railways. As NLC's role grew in the Afghan war and in the later years, Pakistan Railways was sidelined further as it became irrelevant with each passing day.
Out of 522 total engines only 220 are in working order, out of which 100 are in poor condition.
The railway coaches were also the targets of angry mobs and arson attacks after Benazir Bhutto's assassination resulting in huge losses.
Read full article: Last relic of the Great Game disappears, bit by bit"¦. | Voice of Sanity and Reason


To be merged later with: http://defenceforumindia.com/forum/pakistan/22320-pakistan-railways-crisis.html
 

ladder

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Last relic of the Great Game disappears, bit by bit"¦.
According to one theory the creation of Pakistan was accepted by British as a bulwark against Soviet empire.This may be not a be a part of great game but not too far from it.So, if last relic of the great game is concerned, it can't be made to vanish till Pakistan exists because it's embedded into the nation itself.

yes, I admit the title of the article is Sarcastic, but to see Pakistan railway only in realm of the great game is undermining the role it played in creation of Pakistan and realizing the dream of the likes of Jinnah and Iqbal, who wanted to create a religious state for the Muslims of the sub-continent.
This dream hinged on movement of insane number of people to the fabled land and which the world saw one of the largest migration in modern history.
This migration was to a large extent shouldered by railways.

The railway again played a great role in the development of a newly born nation till at-least a time when KSA funded motorways that came into being.

So, if the railways is equated to life then the birth of a nation was due to railways and the its death will coincide with the destruction of railways.
And the systematic and slow destruction can be equated to digging one's own grave.

But, it hardly comes as a surprise as its the of nature of Pakistani's to destroy everything that has accepted and nurtured their very existence.
 
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pmaitra

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According to one theory the creation of Pakistan was accepted by British as a bulwark against Soviet empire.This may be not a be a part of great game but not too far from it.So, if last relic of the great game is concerned, it can't be made to vanish till Pakistan exists because it's embedded into the nation itself.

yes, I admit the title of the article is Sarcastic, but to see Pakistan railway only in realm of the great game is undermining the role it played in creation of Pakistan and realizing the dream of the likes of Jinnah and Iqbal, who wanted to create a religious state for the Muslims of the sub-continent.
This dream hinged on movement of insane number of people to the fabled land and which the world saw one of the largest migration in modern history.
This migration was to a large extent shouldered by railways.

The railway again played a great role in the development of a newly born nation till at-least a time when KSA funded motorways that came into being.

So, if the railways is equated to life then the birth of a nation was due to railways and the its death will coincide with the destruction of railways.
And the systematic and slow destruction can be equated to digging one's own grave.

But, it hardly comes as a surprise as its the of nature of Pakistani's to destroy everything that has accepted and nurtured their very existence.
I think this destruction of anything and everything progressive is part of the national character of Pakistan, and it seems symbiotic with the individual business fiefdoms these military generals run, starting from grocery stores to transport companies.

It is rather self defeating that the railways, that would help the movement of troops, are being neglected by a country that has spent most of its existence under some kind of military rule.

This is quite good, because, railways help keep the nation connected, and the lack of it, makes the regions of the nation insular and isolated. In the long run, this will only hasten the fragmentation of this country.

I ain't complaining!
 

ladder

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Also Pakistan happens to be all weather friend of China, who in turn has 2nd or the 3rd largest network of railways and an industry which exports railway equipment all over the world.
Forget about being helped by China, the all expenses paid engines imported from China turned out to be a disaster with each of them breaking down within a short span of time.
But not so coincidentally, again orders were placed for the same Chinese company for a second time.

This is a friendship as another thread in DFI stated ' a friendship (China-Pak) we (Indians) should be envious of'
 
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pmaitra

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Also Pakistan happens to be all weather friend of China, who in turn has 2nd or the 3rd largest network of railways and an industry which exports railway equipment all over the world.
Forget about being helped by China, the all expenses paid engines imported from China turned out to be a disaster with each of then breaking down within a short span of time.
But not so coincidentally again orders were placed for the same Chinese company for a second time.

This is a friendship as another thread in DFI stated ' a friendship we should be envious of'
Yes, indeed, and that delusional myth of envy was created by our Farhaan! I wonder whether he will come here to share his thoughts.

I could say that give unreliable locomotives to Pakistan, and get a Nishan-e-Pakistan from them in return. :lol:
 

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Yes, indeed, and that delusional myth of envy was created by our Farhaan! I wonder whether he will come here to share his thoughts.

I could say that give unreliable locomotives to Pakistan, and get a Nishan-e-Pakistan from them in return. :lol:
hardly comes as a surprise if you look at the list of foreign recipients of this award.

Year Name Field Country
1960 HM Queen Elizabeth II Queen of Britain United Kingdom and the other Commonwealth Realms
13 January 1961 Josip Broz Tito President of Yugoslavia Yugoslavia
Dwight Eisenhower President of the United States United States
1 August 1969 Richard Nixon[1] President of the United States United States
23 March 1983 His Highness Sayyid Karīm al-Hussaynī[2] Leader of Ismaili Muslims France
19 May 1990 Morarji Desai[3] Prime Minister of India India
3 October 1992 Nelson Mandela[4][5] President of South Africa South Africa
10 April 1999 Li Peng[6] Premier of the People's Republic of China People's Republic of China
1999 Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani[7] Emir of Qatar Qatar
21 April 2001 Sultan Qaboos bin Said al Said[8] Sultan of Oman Oman
1 February 2006 King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud[9] King of Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia
24 November 2006 Hu Jintao[10] President of the People's Republic of China People's Republic of China
26 October 2009 Recep Tayyip ErdoÄŸan[11] Prime Minister of Turkey Turkey
31 March 2010 Abdullah Gül[12] President of Turkey Turkey

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nishan-e-Pakistan
 
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pmaitra

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hardly comes as a surprise if you look at the list of foreign recipients of this award.

Year Name Field Country
1960 HM Queen Elizabeth II Queen of Britain United Kingdom and the other Commonwealth Realms
13 January 1961 Josip Broz Tito President of Yugoslavia Yugoslavia
Dwight Eisenhower President of the United States United States
1 August 1969 Richard Nixon[1] President of the United States United States
23 March 1983 His Highness Sayyid Karīm al-Hussaynī[2] Leader of Ismaili Muslims France
19 May 1990 Morarji Desai[3] Prime Minister of India India
3 October 1992 Nelson Mandela[4][5] President of South Africa South Africa
10 April 1999 Li Peng[6] Premier of the People's Republic of China People's Republic of China
1999 Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani[7] Emir of Qatar Qatar
21 April 2001 Sultan Qaboos bin Said al Said[8] Sultan of Oman Oman
1 February 2006 King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud[9] King of Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia
24 November 2006 Hu Jintao[10] President of the People's Republic of China People's Republic of China
26 October 2009 Recep Tayyip ErdoÄŸan[11] Prime Minister of Turkey Turkey
31 March 2010 Abdullah Gül[12] President of Turkey Turkey
Emboldened are the examples of boot-licking, or showing solidarity with some of the most retarded or demented personalities.
 

Ray

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If the Pak Railway (Rly) is vanishing, then how will China ship her goods from Gwadar to Xinjiang?

Will China run her own rly in Pakistan?
 

pmaitra

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If the Pak Railway (Rly) is vanishing, then how will China ship her goods from Gwadar to Xinjiang?

Will China run her own rly in Pakistan?
PRC would rather rely on a road than a railway link via Gilgit-Baltistan. A railway would be too expensive to build, and too vulnerable to attacks by the numerous autonomous groups in that area. Also, a break of gauge can be an issue. I do not see a lack of railways as a big impediment.
 

amoy

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the newly completed rail extension to Xigaze from Lhasa is consisting of plateau tunnels longer than 10km also very expensive. when it comes to security cost is not much of a concern.

Sent from my 5910 using Tapatalk 2
 

ladder

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PRC would rather rely on a road than a railway link via Gilgit-Baltistan. A railway would be too expensive to build, and too vulnerable to attacks by the numerous autonomous groups in that area. Also, a break of gauge can be an issue. I do not see a lack of railways as a big impediment.
The road through Gilgit-Baltistan the Karakoram highway passes through a treacherous terrain.If you remember in 2010 or so, a flood washed out a large portion of road and made the transport a multi-modal one. small boats had to be brought in for trans-shipments.

If the KKR has to be made all weather road on which trade can depend, then realignment has to be done at several places and many tunnels has to be dug and bridges built.

The investment is out of reach of Pakistan and Chines investment will depend upon the figure of ROI they can get.

But the road in present form can handle low volume of trade.
And there is daily passenger bus service from Pakistan to kashgar.



Karakoram Highway washed out by river - CNN iReport
 

ladder

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Railways plans to buy locomotives from Korea
Railways plans to buy locomotives from Korea | Pakistan Today | Latest news | Breaking news | Pakistan News | World news | Business | Sport and Multimedia

=============================================================================================

Well, Pakistan railways are not even in a position to buy new 'Chinese' locomotives.Now they have approached the South-Koreans to sell them the old GE built diesel locomotives which are now out of service due to migration of SK railways to electric locomotives.
These locomotives purchased from SK would require modification ( guage conv.). The ability of the Pakistani workshop to even do it is doubtful.

If members remember Pakistanis take pride in stating that South-Koreans in the 60's came to Pakistan to study their development model.
And now after 50 years the same Pakistan is buying Second-hand mothballed diesel locomotives from them.

You have to learn how to ride a economy in reverse-gear from Pakistanis.
 
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