Karachi Circular Railway partially returns to life

KARACHI: Pakistan Railways resumed the Karachi Circular Railway (KCR) train service, between City Station to Pipri on Thursday (today).

Railways Minister Sheikh Rasheed addressing the inaugural ceremony of KCR announced cut in KCR fares from 50 rupees to 30 and Rs 750 ticket package for one month.

The minister had on Wednesday said that Pakistan Railways has deferred KCR resumption from Karachi’s City Station to Orangi section due to the issue of level crossings and renovation of stations.

“After 15 days the Karachi Circular Railway (KCR) route will be further extended by 14 kilometers,” the minister said. The work on railway crossings on 14 kilometers being launched immediately, he said.

The government of Sindh has also awarded contracts for the KCR projects, the minister further said. “We want to run the Karachi Circular Railway (KCR)project jointly with the Sindh government,” he said.

“Two trains each will run on Up and Down tracks today,” Rashid further said. The number of Up and 10 Down trains will will gradually reach to 10 daily, he said. Each KCR train have a capacity of 80 passengers, he said.

Karachi Circular Railway (KCR) has been closed for last 25 years, and having several problems in its resumption, the Railways minister said.

“We are not getting required support to take back encroached portions, he said. The land grabbing mafia sitting on the railway track, the minister said.

“The dead railway project coming to life after 25 years, thanks to the efforts by the Chief Justice of Pakistan,” the minister said.

Earlier, Pakistan Railways had announced the train schedule for KCR. According to which the trains have stopovers at Manghopir, SITE, Shah Abdul Latif, Baldia, Lyari, Wazir Mansion, Karachi City Station, Karachi Cantt Station, Departure Yard, Drigh Road, Drigh Colony, Airport, Malir Colony, Malir, Landhi, Jumma Goth, Bin Qasim and Baldia Nullah before reaching Marshalling Yard Pipri railway station.

For the down track, the local train will depart from Marshalling Yard railway station, covering the same stops to reach Orangi railway station.

The Karachi Circular Railway (KCR) project is 12.63 kilometres at grade (on the ground), and 30.75 kilometres elevated with 24 railway stations out of which 14 will be elevated. The average distance between each station will be 1.8 kilometres.