Karachi Circular Railway

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Karachi Circular Railway
Overview
OwnerKarachi Urban Transport Corporation
LocaleMetropolitan Karachi
Transit typeCommuter rail
Number of lines3
Number of stations24
HeadquartersKarachi, Sindh, Pakistan
Operation
Began operation1964; 60 years ago (1964)
Infrastructure manager(s)Pakistan Railways
Technical
System length43.24 kilometres (27 mi)
Track gauge1,676 mm (5 ft 6 in)
System map

Karachi Circular Railway (abbreviated as KCR)

Karachi metropolitan area.[2] KCR was fully operational between 1964 and 1994, until it was abruptly shutdown in 1999.[3] Since 2001, several restart attempts were sought and in November 2020, the KCR partially revived operations on the orders of Supreme Court of Pakistan.[4][5][6]

With its hub at

public transit system in Karachi, with an aim to connect the city centre with several industrial and commercial districts within the city and the outlying localities.[7]

Revival efforts of KCR had been proposed several times since becoming defunct in 1999 and remained unfulfilled mainly due to lack of financial and political backing. In May 2017, the federal government approved a Rs. 27.9 billion (US$97 million) restoration package for the KCR,[8] however delays and disputes with the Sindh provincial government ultimately led to the cancellation of the funding.

Civil society has constantly fought for the revival of the KCR. Due to pressure both from outside and within government circles, a plan for its rehabilitation, financing, and implementation has been developed.

Karachi-Peshawar Railway Line, according to Ameer Muhammad Daudpota.[10]

History

Karachi Circular Railway came into being during

Landhi Junction station while new track was extended westwards, thus opening Karachi Port Trust Halt station and Wazir Mansion station in 1970. Throughout the 1970s, track was further extended westwards and northwards towards North Nazimabad, forming a "loop line" which circled around several of Karachi's residential and industrial areas. At its peak, KCR ran 104 daily trains, of which 80 trains ran on the main line, while the remaining 24 trains ran on the loop line. During the 1990s, cost of operations increased while revenues dropped due to a deteriorating commuter service and increasing culture of fare dodging. Private transporters during this time also contracted KCR staff and by 1994 KCR was in incurring major losses due to mismanagement.[12] As a result, the vast majority of trains were discontinued with only a few running on the loop. Unable to withstand the pressures of a growing transport mafia, Pakistan Railways abandoned the KCR in 1999.[13]

The official reason for the discontinuation was that Pakistan Railways was said to be making a loss by running the trains all over the city with few passengers taking advantage of the facility. Another version suggests that private transporters conspired with some corrupt staffers in the railways to fulfill their desire to bag the bulk of passengers for themselves[14] The result caused instant gridlock on Karachi's streets. Severe criticisms were lodged at Pakistan Railways mismanagement as well as Karachi's "road transport mafia". In 2005, revival plans for the KCR were initiated to fulfill the growing transportation needs of Karachi, but never fully materialized.[7] In 2009, the Karachi Urban Transport Corporation was proposed [15] in which KCR would be operated as a semi-autonomous body. Pakistan Railways would have 60% share in the corporation, Sindh government 25% and Karachi 15%.

Route

The KCR will consist of a loop line from

Liaquatabad. 44 kilometres will be revived with an additional 6 kilometre elevated dual track from Karachi City to Jinnah International Airport, allowing the KCR to connect to the Pakistan Railway
main line. Existing railway tracks and 30 stations would be completely rebuilt on bridges. KCR would be used by 500,000 passengers/day which would increase to 1 million in later years. KCR will have 250 modern driverless electric bullet trains which would run 17-hours a day & 7-days a week. This project is also part of CPEC. Total cost of the project would be 294 billion PKR. The KCR would be run by the Sindh Government through Karachi Urban Transport Corporation (KUTC). Construction started in 2022 by FWO and would complete by 2025.

Lines


Main line

Loop line

Closed section

Opened section

Malir line

[16]

Encroachments

Around 7,650 structures—including 4,653 houses—have been erected illegally, occupying 67 of the 360 acres of land required for the KCR.[14]

Revival Timeline

The KCR was originally designed according to the 1964 Karachi Master Plan, which had to be closed due to loss due to wrong route plan. Now it needs to make a brand new route plan which also separated from national railway line. That will help clear the busiest streets in Karachi.A large amount of criticism has been lodged at supposed "revival efforts" of the KCR. Countless studies and feasibility reports since 2001 has yielded no actual ground work. Several proposals were publicly announced by politicians both in the Government of Sindh and Government of Pakistan, all of which had approved plans and pledged funding. Yet each date passed by without any work commencing. The following is a timeline of statements made by several politicians over the past 15 years, all of whom boldly gave start dates for the KCR project. KCR was originally established in 1964 for:

See also

References

  1. ^ "Karachi Circular Railway Map". flickr.com/creating2000. 4 October 2009. Retrieved 4 October 2009.
  2. ^ "After 21 years, Karachi Circular Railway begins partial operations". 27 November 2020.
  3. ^ a b "Karachi Circular Railway Revival".
  4. ^ "Karachi Circular Railway begins partial operations". 19 November 2020.
  5. ^ "Chairman Railways visits KCR track". 10 August 2020.
  6. ^ "Supreme Court gives four more months to overhaul railways". 20 August 2020.
  7. ^ a b "Karachi Circular Railway Revival, Pakistan". Railway Technology. railway-technology.com. Retrieved 4 October 2012.
  8. ^ "CDWP approves restoration of Karachi Circular Railway". Geo TV. Retrieved 5 May 2017.
  9. ^ Hasan, Arif; Raza, Mansoor (July 2015). "Responding to the transport crisis in Karachi". IIED Working Paper. International Institute for Environment and Development: 16. Retrieved 30 March 2024.
  10. ^ "Rs10.5b allotted for KCR rehabilitation in ML-1 style". 26 August 2020.
  11. ^ Com, Dawn (19 November 2020). "Karachi Circular Railway begins partial operations - Pakistan - DAWN.COM". Dawn.com.
  12. ^ "Karachi Circular Railway begins partial operations". 19 November 2020.
  13. ^ "Karachi Circular Railway". karachirail.tripod.com. Retrieved 4 October 2012.
  14. ^ a b "Encroachments major obstacle to KCR revival". 23 January 2017.
  15. ^ "Green signal for Karachi Circular Railway". 4 September 2009.
  16. ^ http://www.pakistanrail.com/kcr/kcr10.jpg [bare URL image file]
  17. ^ "KARACHI: Karakoram Express begins daily operation". 25 March 2003.
  18. ^ "PM inaugurates Karachi Circular Railway".
  19. ^ "KCR to be revived in two phases: Bilour – Business Recorder".
  20. ^ "KCR project to be ready by 2017".
  21. ^ "Japanese Experts present study report on investment in Karachi". 8 August 2012.
  22. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 14 October 2013. Retrieved 12 October 2013.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  23. ^ "PR finalises Karachi's Circular Railways file work". www.nation.com.pk. Archived from the original on 15 July 2013.
  24. ^ "Tribune ePaper: Business News Paper, ePaper Online".
  25. ^ "Handing over the reins: Sindh govt to get control of KCR". 9 December 2016.
  26. ^ "KCR route cleared, project launch planned for Dec 25, CM tells Chinese diplomat". 30 September 2017.
  27. ^ "Ground work on KCR project to be started on March 23: CM | Pakistan Today". 18 January 2018.
  28. ^ "Karachi Circular Railway to be operational in 6 months: Sheikh Rasheed". 11 March 2020.
  29. ^ "Rs124 billion designated for railways". 12 June 2020.
  30. ^ "Government allocates PKR 207 billion for revival of Karachi Circular Railway". 31 May 2023.
  31. ^ Hasan, Shazia (11 February 2021). "KCR made operational on 14km-long Orangi-City route". DAWN.COM. Retrieved 2 April 2021.
  32. ^ "Karachi Circular Railway service now available from Dhabeji to Orangi Town". gulfnews.com. 11 February 2021. Retrieved 2 April 2021.

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Karachi_Circular_Railway&oldid=1216299532"