ISLAMABAD: The Ministry of Railways would restore the old system of the Karachi Circular Railways (KCR) at a cost of Rs1.8 billion, enabling thousands of passengers to travel on a mass transit system daily.
In this regard, an official in the Ministry of Railways on Tuesday said that the Pakistan Railways (PR) was going to restore historic project of KCR with the cooperation of the Sindh government on the Supreme Court’s (SC) orders.
“The distance from the starting point to the last destination would be covered in only half an hour,” he said about the KCR.
He said that the 44km KCR track will include a 30km loop and 14km mainline whereas the project would be restored in three phases.
In the first phase, 14km from Karachi City to Orangi Station would be revived, in the second phase, 7km from Orangi Station to Gilani Station will be restored while in the third and final phase, 9km from Gilani Station to Drug Colony track would be restored.
The KCR has a total of 20 stations, out of which 15 are on the loop and five on the mainline, while there are 24 level crossings on the entire track.
The PR official said that work on the first phase was in full swing. “So far, 12km from Karachi City to Manghopir has been completely restored,” he added.
“Tenders of Rs50 m for electrical signals and telecommunication have been issued in July of the current financial year (FY).”
He further informed that presently, ten locomotives and 40 coaches for the KCR project had been handed over to the Islamabad Carriage Factory for repairs and renovation.
To a question, the second phase of KCR’s rehabilitation would require Rs8.705 bn.
Once the project is complete, the number of passenger trains would be increased from 32 to 48 while passenger capacity would increase from 16,000 to 24,000 whereas the total duration of the journey would be reduced from 30 minutes to 19 minutes.
