KARACHI: The Central Development Working Party (CDWP) has approved the Karachi Circular Railway (KCR) as a modern urban railway project worth Rs273.071 billion.
The project was cleared in a meeting of CDWP chaired by Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Dr Jahanzeb Khan. The committee referred the project to Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) for further consideration. The meeting was attended by the officials of Railways, representatives of the provincial government and other relevant stakeholders.
Secretary Railway briefed the committee that under the project, a 43-km dual-track Urban Rail Mass Transit System will be constructed in a period of three years on Public-Private Partnership (PPP) basis. The main objective of the project is to provide reliable, safe, and eco-friendly public transport to the metropolitan city of Karachi.
He informed that the project is expected to serve a daily ridership of 457,000 which is expected to soar to one million a day. It will deploy the use of electric trains and will be operational round the week. Under the plan, 30 stations would be constructed along the corridor covering the most densely populated areas of Karachi.
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During the meeting, the Planning Commission Deputy Chairman noted that the implementation of the project is a challenge. “We need to invest in railways as the Federal Government is committed to support such public interest projects,” he added.
As per the route alignment, KCR commences from the existing Karachi city station, moves along the mainline of Pakistan Railway on Drigh Road Station. It further goes across Shahrah-e- Faisal and enters into Gulistan-e-Johar, and Gulshan-e-Iqbal. It passes through the older residential areas of North Nazimabad, Nazimabad leading to SITE area and further to the Port, and then reaches back to Karachi City Station.
The overall scheme for the improvement of transport infrastructure includes road network, provision of public transport-mass transit facilities, and traffic management in Karachi.
