June 2021

Pakistan Railways has announced that it will be renewing construction on the Islamabad-Muzaffarabad Branch Line. In any other part of the world, this roughly 130 kilometer railway would barely be worth mentioning--it connects the capital of Pakistan to a small city of about 150,000. Certainly nothing to write home about. However, this small city of 150,000 happens to be the capital of Azad Jammu and Kashmir. Which Pakistan’s nuclear-armed neighbor, India, happens to claim as their territory. Oops.

This project has actually existed for a while (construction first started in 1979), but work has been suspended since 1980--long before the line reached the border of Jammu and Kashmir. The Ministry of Railways commissioned a feasibility study to review renewing construction on the line in 2016, but no action has been taken since then. Pakistan’s renewed interest in the railway is believed to be in response to Prime Minister Modi’s recent insistence that Pakistan surrender its claims to Kashmir.

The branch line largely follows the N75 and S-2 highways, traveling northbound to the town of Bandhi, where it then follows the Jhelum River north before crossing into Pakistan-Administered Kashmir at Kohala before continuing on to the city of Muzaffarabad, the capital of Azad Jammu and Kashmir. Once the Khunjerab Railway is finished, this branch line is expected to expand north to connect to it near the city of Marsehra.

The line will be financed by the Pakistani Ministry of Railways and is expected to open in 2023.