Experts advise for KCR revival

By Abdul Qadir Qureshi
(Pakistan News & Features Services)

Experts on railway affairs have expressed surprise over the steps being taken for revival of Karachi Circular Railway (KCR) just with the removal of encroachments and clearance of tracks. 

They have noticed that in the meetings, being held to review ongoing anti-encroachment drive for clearance of tracks, the real issues that would surface once KCR operation started were not being taken into account. 

According to them, 35 years ago there were as many level crossings on the KCR. The population then was almost half of what it is today. All the expansion has been north of Karachi starting from Gulshan-e- Iqbal, Gulistan-e-Johar and all the way to the University of Karachi. 

They have reckoned that if you run trains at 30 minutes interval the level crossings will hardly remain open. And with the present psyche of Karachiites there may be protests and demonstrations at each level crossing. 

They have questioned that how many underpasses and overhead bridges could be expected to be built in the next decade by the Sindh Government which hasn’t met the challenge of keeping Karachi clean? 

The second important issue in this transport matrix is access to the KCR stations. Unless the stations have access to buses and auto-rickshaws or other public vehicles, people will shy away from using train. 

Unfortunately nearly all the stations on the KCR were locked in with encroachments all around. These two factors need to be addressed before running trains on the KCR.
One trial run with the help of Sindh Police and Rangers may be successful but without them the next could be a great mess-up. 

Of course trains from Malir to Karachi City can be run even today. In the past trains from Malir and Landhi were very popular. There were at least 40 commuters on the locomotive alone during the morning rush hour! 

At that time in the early 1970s, a former DTO reminded, these two trains used to take precedence over trains like Khyber Mail and Tezgam! 

With the development of encroachments around the stations on the KCR, in the early 1980s people lost interest in it and those were turned into haven for drug addicts. 

The experts believe that if KCR is to be made a success story it should be elevated from Malir to Wazir Mansion. 

The Sindh government should buy its own lightweight rolling stock from China under CPEC. They can then develop their own workshop at Wazir Mansion or Landhi for maintenance purposes.