Federal, Sindh govts agree to initiate trial runs of local trains in Karachi

KARACHI: The Sindh and federal governments on Saturday agreed to start trial runs of local trains in the metropolis in the next two months on a 12 kilometre railway track, said a press release issued by the chief minister’s office.

This agreement was finalised in a meeting between Chief Minister Sindh Murad Ali Shah and Federal Minister for Planning and Development Asad Umar. The two had met to formulate a strategy for the launch of the much-awaited Karachi Circular Railway (KCR) and to implement the Supreme Court orders to start local train projects in the port city.

The meeting decided to start local trains on a track of 12 kilometres from City Station to SITE as a trial run during the next two months. The two leaders also discussed whether the local train system would sync in with the modern railway system of KCR.

During the meeting, CM Shah told the minister that the KCR was commissioned in 1964 and was used till 1984 and closed in 1999 after losing its "operational efficiency". He added that the Sindh government had approved the initial PC-I for KCR's revival in 2006, which was approved by the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) in 2012 at the cost of $2.6 billion.

Also read: Railways minister says Sindh govt fully cooperating for Karachi’s circular Railway project

Later, the KCR was included in the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) framework at the cost of $1.971 billion and was supposed to be completed within 36 months.

Meanwhile, planning minister Asad Umar assured the Sindh chief minister that the federal government was serious to start the KCR project at the earliest.

On the other hand, Secretary Railways Habib-ur-Rehman gave a detailed briefing to the participants of the meeting about KCR and the local train system. He shared a three-phased plan under which construction of the single-line track, rolling of stock, the deputation of human resource and operation were in the first phase.

“In the second phase, dualisation of track, singling, fencing and flyovers/underpasses would be constructed,” said the press release. The third phase modern urban rail-based mass-transit will be considered.

The KCR is part of the Prime Minister Imran Khan's massive development plan for Karachi.

The Karachi Transformation Plan (KTP) was prepared on the directives of PM Imran Khan to address the city’s major problems including sewerage, transport and provision of clean drinking water to the masses.

According to documents, the Karachi Circular Railway (KCR) — worth Rs300 billion — has been included as one of the projects under the Rs802-billion KTP's mass transit systems. While China would provide Rs250 billion, the government of Sindh would add Rs50 billion to the project.