Karachi Circular Railway (KCR)

[ghazi52]

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Karachi Circular Railway (KCR)

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The Ministry of Railways has allocated 250 acres of land to shift all encroachments and relocate the displaced people. PHOTO: FILE

ISLAMABAD: Japanese government is ready to provide support and funds for revival of the Karachi Circular Railway project as it is still positive about the scheme, Japan’s Economic and Development Counsellor in Pakistan Takashi Harada said.

“It is a mega project of a mega city; we are discussing relocation of people with the government of Sindh,” he said while talking to APP on Tuesday. “We need support and facilitation from the departments concerned for executing this project.”

The building of Karachi Circular Railway is expected to mitigate sufferings of millions of commuters in the port city, which has a huge demand for urban transport.

However, encroachments by land mafia along the project route are considered a major hurdle to the revival of the project. Now, the Ministry of Railways has allocated 250 acres of land to shift all encroachments and relocate the displaced people.

According to the project plan, the circular railway has a total route length of 43.24 km, of which 15.68 km is on ground, 23.86 km is elevated and 2.28 km is in tunnels with a 1.42km bridge in between. It would have 24 stations and electric-powered trains will ply between them.

Karachi Urban Transport Corporation will run the project as a public-private partnership with technical assistance from the Japan International Cooperation Agency.

Karachi has seven industrial zones that are playing an important role in powering the national economy. The project will provide new job opportunities in the city and as a result standard of living of people will rise.

Published in The Express Tribune..


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[ghazi52]

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KCR) Proposed stations

Cantt station

Johar station

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[ghazi52]

............................old video of circular railway
Karachi Circular Railways, a local commuter train connecting Karachi suburbs with City center.

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[ghazi52]

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KCR__Wazir_Mansion

KCR_Baldia

Lyari--Site

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[ghazi52]

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[ghazi52]

Two Chinese firms express interest in developing KCR, Zulfikarabad


Karachi..A high-powered delegation of a Chinese state-owned company and a private firm called on Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah on Saturday to express their interest in developing the Karachi Circular Railway and Zulfikarabad.

The delegation of state-owned China Railways Company was led by Mr Vin while that of the private firm Tashinua was by Mr Jinbo, and discussed investment opportunities in the province. Both delegations expressed their deep in investing the Karachi Circular Railways and also the new city being built off Thatta, by the name of Zulfikarabad.

During the meeting, the chief minister while citing a survey said the Karachi Circular Railways covered a distance of 43 kilometres with 24 stations, and had daily turnover of around 700,000 passengers.

He said the project had great investment opportunities and directed transport minister Mumtaz Khan Jakhrani and secretary Tuaha Farooqui to meet with the delegation discuss the light rail requirements.

The Tashinua delegation said the firm had vast experience in urban development, road and airport construction and said they were deeply interested in developing Zulfikarabad city along the coast of Arabian Sea off Thatta.

The chief minister also directed DG Zulfikarabad to hold a separate meeting with the Chinese delegation on Monday and discuss the mode of investment with them.

The meeting was also attended by Senator Saleem Mandviwala and Sindh Board of Investment chairman Naheed Memon.

 

[ghazi52]

Following photos were taken at Karachi City Station on March 8, 2005 – the day of partial revival of KCR

 

[ghazi52]

One locomotive #4483 was also rehabilitated and painted anew for the revival. Pakistani designation of this loco is ARU20, which means this is an ALCO rehabilitated 2000 hp model. ALCO stands forAmerican Locomotive Company. Over the years, KCR trains have been pulled by all sorts of locomotives but ALCO’s ARU20 series has known to become the KCR engines.

The Capacity of Proposed KCR Network:

The 50 km railway project will have 19 underpasses, 3 overhead bridges and 23 stations in the city. The Circular Railway would carry689,000 passengers daily through 246 trains. On average 22 Up and Down trains will be operated every hour. The frequency of trains at terminal stations in proposed to approximately one train every 3 minutes. The trains will be operated at 6 minutes interval in either direction at a speed of 100 Km/hour. Every train will have a capacity of 1,276 passengers.

The above photo is courtesy of Adnan Zafar. It shows two KCR trains at Wazir Mansion Station in 2007. Flood Light towers of Peoples Stadium in Lyari are also visible in the photo.

The project envisages dualization of abondoned KCR loop (30 Km) with modern signalling system and grade separation, provision of two dedicated tracks along the main line from Karachi city to Drigh Road Station (14.5 Km) and Link to Airport’s Jinnah Terminal (6 Km).

The Fare:

The fare for the system has been proposed as 85 paisas per kilometer.

How Much Will it cost?

The CDWP approval amount for the project is Rs 52.372 billion which also includes foreign funding in the amount of Rs 39.257 billion. The Government of Japan would provide a soft loan of to cover the foreign funding amount at 0.2% interest which would be payable in 40 years.

The photo to the right shows track rehabilitation work going on between Wazir Mansion station and Port Trust Station in 2008.

 

[ghazi52]

CHINA RAILWAY CONSTRUCTION CORPORATION TO BUILD KARACHI CIRCULAR RAILWAY

A twelve member delegation of China Railways Construction Corporation called on Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah at Chief Minister House in Karachi on Wednesday.

The delegation was led by Vice Chairman of the Corporation Yang Jinju.

According to the spokesman of Chief Minister House, China Railway Construction Corporation will construct the Karachi Circular Railway.

Speaking on the occasion, Syed Murad Ali Shah said that resolution of traffic problems faced by Karachi lies in the construction of state of art Karachi Circular Railway.

He said that work on Karachi Circular Railway be started. He also directed to start work on the KCR project from December this year.

Sindh Minister for Transport Syed Nasir Hussain Shah and other officials concerned were present on the occasion.

 

[Clutch]

Nothing will ever become of Karachi... it will forever be a slum city held hostage to the dirty politics it's own people are indifferent to.

 

[Syed1.]

KCR must be the most advanced, modern, extensive metro system in the world. It is being constructed for the last fifty years.

 

[Furqan Sarwar]

Its only covering existing structure. The other half from Star Gate onwards to Airport, Malir Halt, Landhi, University Road is not covered

 

[Danish saleem]

what a unfortunate, for karachi, that countries investing billions of dollars in developing Metros, and we already have track present, but we are not capable to utilize it.

 

[ghazi52]

Blame the Sindh government. pppp.

 

[ghazi52]

Japan out as China emerges new contender in Karachi Circular Railway project

ISLAMABAD: China will now cooperate with the Sindh government to help it revive the long-delayed Karachi Circular Railway (KCR) within three years under a recently signed memorandum of understanding, the Senate’s Standing Committee on Planning and Development was informed on Monday.

Briefing the committee, Planning Secretary Shoaib Siddiqui said the Rs270 billion project was to be completed with the assistance of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), but due to its long schedule the government decided to include the project in the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.